Lesha
A masculine Russian diminutive form of Alexander, derived from Greek meaning "defender of men".
Name Census estimates that about 919 living Americans carry the first name Lesha. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lesha today is around 52 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lesha births was 1960 (89 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lesha. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
919
~ 1 in 372,964 Americans
Peak year
1960
89 babies that year
Average age
52
years old
1999 SSA rank
#15,800
Tracked since 1955
Census
Lesha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 997 people with the first name Lesha, which placed it at #12,465 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#12,465
National first-name rank
People counted
997
997 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
54.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lesha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lesha is White at 54.6%. The next largest groups are Black (33.9%) and Two or More Races (3.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Lesha described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Lesha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White54.6% · 544
- Black or African American33.9% · 338
- Two or more races3.8% · 38
- Hispanic or Latino3.5% · 35
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.2% · 22
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.0% · 20
Popularity
Lesha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lesha from the 1950s through to the 1990s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 476 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lesha by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Lesha during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Leshas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 14 states and territories. Texas, Kentucky, California recorded the most babies named Lesha, while Virginia, Tennessee, Pennsylvania recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 10 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lesha
The given name Lesha has its origins in the Russian language, where it is a diminutive form of the name Alexei or Aleksey, which in turn is derived from the Greek name Alexios, meaning "defender" or "helper." This name has been popular in Russia and other Slavic countries for centuries.
Lesha can be traced back to the 10th century, when it was often used as a nickname for men named Alexei. The earliest recorded instances of the name Lesha appear in Russian chronicles and historical documents from that time period. It was a common name among the nobility and the peasantry alike.
One of the most notable historical figures with the name Lesha was Lesha Chernigovsky, a 12th-century Russian prince who ruled the principality of Chernigov. He was known for his military exploits and his role in the conflicts between the various Russian principalities of that era.
Another prominent individual with the name Lesha was Lesha Zaporozhets, a Cossack leader who lived in the 16th century. He led a rebellion against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and played a significant role in the establishment of the Cossack Hetmanate.
In the 18th century, Lesha Naryshkin, a member of the Russian nobility, served as a diplomat and statesman under the reign of Peter the Great. He played a crucial role in negotiating several important treaties and agreements with other European powers.
Moving into the 19th century, Lesha Tolstoy, a distant relative of the famous writer Leo Tolstoy, was a prominent Russian painter and art critic. He was known for his realistic portraits and his advocacy for the development of Russian art.
In more recent times, Lesha Ivanov, a Russian ice hockey player who was born in 1983, had a successful career in the National Hockey League (NHL), playing for teams like the Detroit Red Wings and the St. Louis Blues.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Lesha, a name that has its roots in the rich cultural heritage of Russia and the Slavic world.
People
Lesha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lesha as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with L
Other first names starting with L with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Lesha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lesha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 919 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lesha going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 372,964 US residents.
Is Lesha a common name?
We classify Lesha as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,053 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lesha most popular?
The single biggest year for Lesha was 1960, when 89 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lesha is about 52 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lesha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 997 people with the name Lesha, or 0.33 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,465 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Lesha in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Lesha?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lesha appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,004 people counted with this name, 99.3% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Lesha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lesha is White at 54.6%. The next largest groups are Black (33.9%) and Two or More Races (3.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Lesha most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lesha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 54.6% (544 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Lesha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lesha a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lesha in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Lesha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lesha in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Lesha can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How common is the name Lesha?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Lesha at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.