Lief
A masculine name of Germanic origin meaning "beloved" or "dear".
Name Census estimates that about 259 living Americans carry the first name Lief. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Lief today is around 40 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lief births was 1999 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lief. 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 Lief with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
259
~ 1 in 1,323,376 Americans
Peak year
1999
12 babies that year
Average age
40
years old
2023 SSA rank
#7,547
Tracked since 1948
Census
Lief in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 338 people with the first name Lief, which placed it at #27,177 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
#27,177
National first-name rank
People counted
338
338 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
83.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lief
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lief is White at 83.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.7%) and Black (3.6%). 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 Lief 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 Lief at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White83.4% · 282
- Hispanic or Latino4.7% · 16
- Black or African American3.6% · 12
- Two or more races3.6% · 12
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.7% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.1% · 7
Popularity
Lief: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lief from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 66 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
Lief 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 Lief during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lief
The name Lief has its origins in Old Norse, the language spoken by the Vikings and ancient Scandinavian people. It is derived from the Old Norse word "ljúfr," which means "beloved" or "dear." The name was commonly used in medieval Iceland and other Nordic regions during the Viking Age, from around the 8th to 11th centuries.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Lief can be found in the Icelandic Sagas, which are medieval literary sources that recount the history and mythology of the Norse people. The name appears in the Saga of Erik the Red, where it refers to Leif Erikson, the famous Norse explorer who is believed to have been the first European to set foot on the North American continent, around the year 1000 AD.
Throughout history, the name Lief has been borne by several notable individuals. One such person was Lief Inge Fockrodt, a Norwegian explorer and writer who lived from 1903 to 1976. He is best known for his expeditions to Greenland and the Arctic regions, where he documented the lives and traditions of the Inuit people.
Another historical figure with the name Lief was Lief Eriksson, a Swedish conductor and composer who lived from 1912 to 1986. He made significant contributions to the Swedish classical music scene and is particularly renowned for his interpretations of the works of Jean Sibelius.
In the realm of literature, Lief Grassby was an Australian author and journalist who lived from 1923 to 2007. He is best known for his novels and non-fiction works that explored the history and culture of his homeland, including "The Idea of Perfection" and "The Colour of Blindness."
Lief Eriksson, a Swedish actor and director born in 1943, is another notable figure who has borne this name. He has had a prolific career in both film and theater, and is particularly acclaimed for his performances in productions of plays by August Strindberg and Henrik Ibsen.
Lastly, Lief Pagrotsky, a Swedish politician born in 1951, has also carried the name Lief. He has served as a member of the Swedish parliament and has held various cabinet positions, including Minister for Trade and Industry.
People
Lief + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lief 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
Lief: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lief?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 259 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lief 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 1,323,376 US residents.
Is Lief a common name?
We classify Lief as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 279 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lief most popular?
The single biggest year for Lief was 1999, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lief is about 40 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lief in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 338 people with the name Lief, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #27,177 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 Lief 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 Lief?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lief leans strongly male. 321 people counted with this name were male (96.1%), compared with 13 female bearers (3.9%). 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 Lief?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lief is White at 83.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.7%) and Black (3.6%). 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 Lief most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lief in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.4% (282 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 Lief in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lief a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lief in the SSA data are male. 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 Lief still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lief 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 Lief 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 named Lief?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.