Leander
A masculine name of Greek origin meaning "lion man".
Name Census estimates that about 4,095 living Americans carry the first name Leander. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Leander today is around 41 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Leander births was 2023 (117 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Leander. 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
4.1K
~ 1 in 83,701 Americans
Peak year
2023
117 babies that year
Average age
41
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,752
Tracked since 1880
Gender
Gender distribution for Leander
Out of the 6,830 babies given the name Leander since 1880, 99.6% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Leander as a male name
- Ranked #1,752 in 2024
- 94 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (117 births)
Leander as a female name
- Ranked #9,614 in 1979
- 6 female births in 1979
- Peak: 1976 (7 births)
Popularity
Leander: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Leander from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 800 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Leander remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Leander 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 Leander during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Leanders live
The SSA's state-level files cover 29 states and territories. North Carolina, Minnesota, Arizona recorded the most babies named Leander, while Nebraska, Massachusetts, Kansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 65 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Leander
The name Leander has its origins in Greek mythology and language. It is derived from the Greek name "Leandros", which is composed of the elements "leon" meaning "lion" and "aner" meaning "man". The name can be interpreted to mean "lion man" or "lion-like man".
According to Greek legend, Leander was a young man from Abydos who fell in love with a priestess named Hero from Sestos. The two cities were situated on opposite sides of the Hellespont (now known as the Dardanelles Strait). Every night, Leander would swim across the strait to be with his beloved Hero. On one stormy night, the waves were too strong, and Leander drowned while attempting to cross the strait. Upon discovering his body, the grief-stricken Hero took her own life by leaping from a tower into the sea.
The earliest recorded instance of the name Leander dates back to the 7th century BC, when the Greek poet Musaeus wrote about the tragic love story of Leander and Hero. The name also appears in various other Greek literary works, such as the works of Ovid and Virgil.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Leander. One of the earliest was Leander of Seville (534-600 AD), a Spanish bishop and scholar who wrote extensively on religious matters. Another notable Leander was Leander Anguisciola (1542-1629), an Italian painter and member of the Anguisciola family of artists from Cremona.
In the 17th century, Leander van Ess (1772-1847) was a German Catholic theologian and professor of theology at the University of Marburg. Leander Starr Jameson (1853-1917) was a British colonial politician and leader of the failed Jameson Raid in South Africa in 1895-1896.
More recently, Leander Paes (born 1973) is a professional tennis player from India who has won numerous Grand Slam titles in doubles and mixed doubles events.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Leander
People
Leander + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Leander 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
Leander: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Leander?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,095 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Leander 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 83,701 US residents.
Is Leander a common name?
We classify Leander as "Rare". It ranks above 96.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,830 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Leander most popular?
The single biggest year for Leander was 2023, when 117 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Leander is about 41 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Leander a male name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Leander 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.
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.