Leelah
A feminine Arabic name of Hebrew origin meaning "born at night".
Name Census estimates that about 423 living Americans carry the first name Leelah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Leelah today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Leelah births was 2018 (32 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Leelah. 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 Leelah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
423
~ 1 in 810,294 Americans
Peak year
2018
32 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,513
Tracked since 2000
Census
Leelah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 317 people with the first name Leelah, which placed it at #28,376 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
#28,376
National first-name rank
People counted
317
317 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
42.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Leelah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leelah is White at 42.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (21.1%) and Black (17.7%). 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 Leelah 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 Leelah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White42.3% · 134
- Hispanic or Latino21.1% · 67
- Black or African American17.7% · 56
- Two or more races13.9% · 44
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.8% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.2% · 7
Popularity
Leelah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Leelah from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 255 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Leelah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Leelah 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 Leelah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Leelahs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Leelah
The name Leelah originates from the Sanskrit language, which is an ancient Indo-Aryan language that has been used in the Indian subcontinent for over three millennia. The name is derived from the Sanskrit word "leela," which means "play" or "sport," and is often associated with the divine play or lila of the Hindu deities.
In Hindu mythology, the concept of lila refers to the playful and creative activities of the gods, particularly Lord Krishna and Lord Shiva. It represents the idea that the universe is the manifestation of the divine play, where the gods engage in various pastimes and adventures to sustain and enliven the cosmos.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Leelah can be traced back to ancient Hindu texts and scriptures, such as the Puranas and the Upanishads. It was often used as a name for female characters or deities who embodied the playful and joyful aspects of the divine.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Leelah was Leelah Devi, a renowned Indian classical dancer and choreographer who lived in the 19th century (1828-1892). She was instrumental in reviving and popularizing the Bharatanatyam dance form, which had declined during the colonial period.
Another notable figure was Leelah Naidu (1929-2009), an Indian actress and activist who appeared in several Bollywood films and was known for her philanthropic work. She was a prominent figure in the Indian independence movement and worked closely with Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru.
In the literary realm, Leelah Wilcox (1929-2018) was an American poet and writer who was known for her works exploring themes of spirituality, nature, and feminism. She published several poetry collections and was a recipient of the Robert Frost Award.
Leelah Patel (1937-2007) was an Indian-American mathematician and computer scientist who made significant contributions to the field of parallel computing. She was a pioneer in the development of parallel algorithms and was recognized for her work with the prestigious IEEE Computer Society Harry H. Goode Memorial Award.
In the field of music, Leelah Bateman (1947-2020) was a British singer and songwriter who was part of the folk rock movement of the 1960s and 1970s. She performed with various bands and released several solo albums, showcasing her unique blend of folk, rock, and world music influences.
These are just a few examples of individuals throughout history who have borne the name Leelah, each making notable contributions in their respective fields and reflecting the playful, creative, and joyful essence associated with the name's Sanskrit origins.
People
Leelah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Leelah 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
Leelah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Leelah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 423 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Leelah 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 810,294 US residents.
Is Leelah a common name?
We classify Leelah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 427 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Leelah most popular?
The single biggest year for Leelah was 2018, when 32 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Leelah is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Leelah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 317 people with the name Leelah, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #28,376 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 Leelah 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 Leelah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Leelah appears almost entirely female. Of the 314 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Leelah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leelah is White at 42.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (21.1%) and Black (17.7%). 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 Leelah most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Leelah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 42.3% (134 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 Leelah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Leelah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Leelah 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 Leelah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Leelah 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 Leelah 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 Americans are named Leelah?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Leelah at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.