Leonel

What Leonel means

Portuguese form of Lionel, meaning “lion”

a male given name, equivalent to English Lionel || A Middle English diminutive of French Léon, Latin Leo (“lion”), or of the Middle English nickname Lion + -el (diminutive suffix).

Source: Wiktionary, “Leonel” (revision 85527394) and “Lionel” (revision 93672176), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Leonel?

US: Rising: up from #389 in 2015. England & Wales: Falling: down from #2150 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 2024, when 1,084 boys got the name (#317 that year). First in the US records in 1910.

How common

• About 1 in 1,813 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 33,992 baby boys in England and Wales 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 DE (2.04 per 1,000 boys), AZ (1.8 per 1,000 boys), TX (1.39 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

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

US vs UK

Leonel is #350 in the US and #2664 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 Leonel were boys.

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

Other spellings

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Lionel419 US · 24 E&W
• Leonell10 US
• Lionell7 US
• Leniel6 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Leonel

Boys

• Roman#42Editor’s note Climbing fast in the US: #102 in 2015, #42 in 2025
• Elias#13Form of Elijah, meaning “Yahweh is my god”^*
• Ezra#20Editor’s note Climbing fast in the US: #93 in 2015, #20 in 2025. Short and simple: 4 letters
• Matias#170From Biblical Hebrew, meaning “gift of Yahweh”^*
• Leo#19“lion”^*
• Ezekiel#61“God strengthens”^*

For a sister

• Aurora#15Italian, from Latin Aurōra, meaning “dawn, sunrise”^*
• Emilia#45Variant of Emily, meaning “rival, emulator”^*
• Kailani#253“sea + sky”^*
• Josephine#53Feminine form of Joseph, meaning “(God) shall add”^*
• Freya#176“mistress, lady”^*
• Eleanor#12possibly “other”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under where there are enough, topped up with common names whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Leonel’s. Place names are only included if they are in the top 300. Rank is US 2025.