Leonard

What Leonard means

Means “lion”

From Old French Leonard, name of a 6th century Frankish saint, from Old High German leo (“lion”) or Old High German liut (“person”) and hart (“hard”).

Source: Wiktionary, “Leonard” (revision 93884502), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Leonard?

US: Steady: #650 in 2015, #637 now. England & Wales: Steady: #255 in 2015, #249 now.

Biggest US share so far: 1920, when 5,511 boys got the name (#38 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 3,900 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 1,454 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 3,274 baby boys in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in MT (1.86 per 1,000 boys), SD (1.56 per 1,000 boys), MN (0.9 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed boys born in each state.

US vs UK

Leonard is #637 in the US and #249 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Leonard were boys.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

Wiktionary only lists the US pronunciation so far.

IPA from Wiktionary.

Nicknames

• Len
• Lenny
• Leo
• Leon

Listed on Wiktionary under “pet forms”.

If you like Leonard

Boys

• Frederick#435“peace king, peaceful ruler”^*
• Harry#775Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1918, with 9,896 babies; 329 in 2025
• Charles#48“free man”^*
• Roger#832“fame-spear”^*
• Walter#251“ruler + army, host”^*
• Albert#614“noble + bright, famous”^*

For a sister

• Robin#704Diminutive of Robert, meaning “shining glory”^*
• Anne#619Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1959, with 5,745 babies; 472 in 2025
• Linda#902“tender, soft”^*
• Billie#691Diminutive of William, meaning “will + helmet”^*
• Alicia#460Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1984, with 7,820 babies; 672 in 2025
• Heidi#340Editor’s note Up from #343 in 2015 to #340 in 2025 in the US

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Germanic, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Leonard’s. Rank is US 2025.