Leshia
An English feminine name of unknown meaning or origin.
Name Census estimates that about 436 living Americans carry the first name Leshia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Leshia today is around 57 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Leshia births was 1960 (76 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Leshia. 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
436
~ 1 in 786,134 Americans
Peak year
1960
76 babies that year
Average age
57
years old
1992 SSA rank
#11,165
Tracked since 1960
Census
Leshia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 472 people with the first name Leshia, which placed it at #21,491 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
#21,491
National first-name rank
People counted
472
472 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
57.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Leshia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leshia is White at 57.8%. The next largest groups are Black (36.7%) and Hispanic (2.3%). 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 Leshia 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 Leshia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White57.8% · 273
- Black or African American36.7% · 173
- Hispanic or Latino2.3% · 11
- Two or more races2.1% · 10
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 2
Popularity
Leshia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Leshia from the 1960s through to the 1990s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 348 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
Leshia 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 Leshia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Leshias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. Kentucky, Virginia, Alabama recorded the most babies named Leshia, while Texas, West Virginia, Alabama recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 21 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Leshia
The name Leshia is of Slavic origin, derived from the Old Russian and Old Church Slavonic words "lěsŭ" or "lěsa," meaning "forest" or "woods." Its earliest known usage dates back to the 9th century in the Kievan Rus' region, which encompassed parts of modern-day Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus.
In ancient Slavic folklore and mythology, the forest was a sacred and revered place, often associated with various deities and spirits. As a result, names derived from words related to the natural world, such as Leshia, were commonly given to children, particularly in rural areas, as a way to honor nature and seek protection from the spirits believed to reside within.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Leshia can be found in the Laurentian Codex, a 14th-century Russian chronicle that documented the lives of saints and notable figures. The chronicle mentions a woman named Leshia who lived in the 11th century and was renowned for her piety and charitable works.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Leshia. In the 15th century, Leshia Ivanovna was a prominent noblewoman and landowner in the Grand Duchy of Moscow. Another notable figure was Leshia Petrovna (1670-1744), a Russian aristocrat and courtier during the reign of Peter the Great.
In the realm of literature, the name Leshia appears in the works of renowned Russian writers such as Alexander Pushkin and Ivan Turgenev. Pushkin's unfinished novel "The Captain's Daughter" features a character named Leshia, while Turgenev's novel "A Nest of Gentlefolk" includes a character with the same name.
Moving beyond the Slavic regions, the name Leshia has also been used in other parts of Europe, although its popularity has been more limited. In the 19th century, there was a French painter named Leshia Dubois (1822-1884), known for her landscape and portraiture works.
Additionally, Leshia Kupchenko (1890-1952) was a prominent Ukrainian actress and director who made significant contributions to the development of Ukrainian theater in the early 20th century.
People
Leshia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Leshia 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
Leshia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Leshia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 436 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Leshia 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 786,134 US residents.
Is Leshia a common name?
We classify Leshia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 517 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Leshia most popular?
The single biggest year for Leshia was 1960, when 76 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Leshia is about 57 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Leshia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 472 people with the name Leshia, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #21,491 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 Leshia 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 Leshia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Leshia appears almost entirely female. Of the 472 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Leshia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leshia is White at 57.8%. The next largest groups are Black (36.7%) and Hispanic (2.3%). 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 Leshia most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Leshia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.8% (273 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 Leshia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Leshia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Leshia 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 Leshia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Leshia 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 Leshia 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 many people are called Leshia?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.