Lesley
A feminine variant of the masculine name Leslie, ultimately from a Norman French place name.
Name Census estimates that about 33,062 living Americans carry the first name Lesley. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 87.7% of registrations being female. The average person named Lesley today is around 46 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lesley births was 1980 (981 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lesley. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Lesley with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Lesley started out as a boys' name but over the decades crossed over and is now given to girls far more often.
People living today
33K
~ 1 in 10,367 Americans
Peak year
1980
981 babies that year
Average age
46
years old
2016 SSA rank
#4,074
Tracked since 1882
Census
Lesley in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 34,458 people with the first name Lesley, which placed it at #1,151 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
#1,151
National first-name rank
People counted
34K
34,458 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
11.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
66.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lesley
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lesley is White at 66.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (19.9%) and Black (7.6%). 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 Lesley 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 Lesley at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White66.9% · 23,038
- Hispanic or Latino19.9% · 6,840
- Black or African American7.6% · 2,635
- Two or more races2.6% · 882
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.4% · 828
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 235
Gender
Gender distribution for Lesley
Lesley leans heavily female at 87.7% of total registrations, but 4,798 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Lesley as a male name
- Ranked #9,357 in 2016
- 8 male births in 2016
- Peak: 1958 (102 births)
Lesley as a female name
- Ranked #4,074 in 2024
- 36 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1980 (928 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lesley leans strongly female. 31,828 people counted with this name were female (92.4%), compared with 2,626 male bearers (7.6%).
Popularity
Lesley: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lesley from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 8,348 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lesley 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 Lesley during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lesleys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 50 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Lesley, while Wyoming, North Dakota, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 629 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lesley
Lesley is an English given name with origins tracing back to the medieval era. It is a diminutive form of the name Leslie, derived from an Anglo-French surname meaning "garden of the lily" or "grey garden". The name's roots can be traced to the Norman-French words "l'islet" (the little island) or "gris" (grey) and "leys" (garden or meadow).
The name was initially used as a Scottish surname, with the first recorded instance dating back to the 12th century. In 1195, a charter granted by King William the Lion of Scotland mentions "Leslies" as a family name. Over time, the surname evolved into a given name, particularly popular in Scotland and England.
One of the earliest recorded individuals bearing the name Lesley was Sir Andrew Lesley, a Scottish knight who fought alongside Robert the Bruce in the Wars of Scottish Independence in the early 14th century. Another notable figure was Alexander Lesley, a Scottish theologian and mathematician who lived from 1572 to 1661.
In literature, the name appears in the works of Sir Walter Scott, who featured the character Lesley Baillie in his novel "The Bride of Lammermoor" (1819). This helped popularize the name in the 19th century.
Other historical figures with the name Lesley include:
1. Lesley Ridley (1905-1979), a British aviator and test pilot.
2. Lesley Blanch (1904-2007), an English writer and traveler.
3. Lesley Stahl (born 1941), an American journalist and correspondent for CBS News.
4. Lesley Gore (1946-2015), an American singer-songwriter best known for her hit "It's My Party".
5. Lesley Manville (born 1956), an English actress renowned for her performances in films like "Phantom Thread" and "Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris".
The name Lesley has been used across various cultures and time periods, reflecting its enduring appeal and versatility. Its rich history and origins contribute to its unique character and lasting popularity.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Lesley
People
Lesley + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lesley 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
Lesley: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lesley?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 33,062 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lesley 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 10,367 US residents.
Is Lesley a common name?
We classify Lesley as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 39,070 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lesley most popular?
The single biggest year for Lesley was 1980, when 981 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lesley is about 46 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lesley in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 34,458 people with the name Lesley, or 11.41 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,151 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 Lesley 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 Lesley?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lesley leans strongly female. 31,828 people counted with this name were female (92.4%), compared with 2,626 male bearers (7.6%). 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 Lesley?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lesley is White at 66.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (19.9%) and Black (7.6%). 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 Lesley most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lesley in the 2020 Census, accounting for 66.9% (23,038 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 Lesley in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lesley a female name?
Yes, 87.7% of people registered as Lesley 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 Lesley still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lesley 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 Lesley 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 have the name Lesley?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.