Leia
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "the sublime one".
Name Census estimates that about 17,446 living Americans carry the first name Leia. It sits at #290 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Leia today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Leia births was 2023 (1,424 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Leia. 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 Leia with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Leia is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 14 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
17K
~ 1 in 19,647 Americans
Peak year
2023
1,424 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#290
Tracked since 1949
Census
Leia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 11,314 people with the first name Leia, which placed it at #2,286 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
#2,286
National first-name rank
People counted
11K
11,314 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
48.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Leia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leia is White at 48.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (25.4%) and Two or More Races (9.3%). 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 Leia 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 Leia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White48.4% · 5,479
- Hispanic or Latino25.4% · 2,876
- Two or more races9.3% · 1,057
- Black or African American9.1% · 1,028
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.6% · 749
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 125
Popularity
Leia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Leia from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 7,236 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Leia 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 Leia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Leias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 45 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Leia, while District of Columbia, New Hampshire, North Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 334 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Leia
The name Leia originates from the ancient Greek language and has its roots in the word "leios", which means "smooth" or "flat". It was likely used as a descriptive name referring to a person's smooth or calm demeanor. The name first appeared in ancient Greek literature and texts dating back to the 5th century BC.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Leia was Leia of Athens, a Greek playwright who lived in the 5th century BC. Her works, unfortunately, have been lost to time, but she is mentioned in the writings of ancient Greek scholars and historians.
In Roman mythology, Leia was the name of a minor goddess associated with childbirth and fertility. She was often invoked by expectant mothers seeking a safe and smooth delivery.
During the Byzantine Empire, the name Leia was relatively common among the Greek population. One notable figure was Leia Komnene, a princess and author who lived in the 12th century (1105-1151). She wrote several historical works and was known for her intelligence and literary talents.
In the 16th century, Leia Mencía was a Spanish painter and one of the few female artists of the Renaissance period. She was known for her portraits and religious works, which were highly regarded during her lifetime (1501-1568).
Another notable figure was Leia Stephanopoulos, a Greek linguist and scholar who lived in the 17th century (1630-1693). She was a pioneer in the study of Greek dialects and contributed greatly to the preservation of the Greek language and culture.
One of the more recent historical figures with the name Leia was Leia Aristarhova, a Russian revolutionary and activist who fought for women's rights and socialism in the early 20th century (1884-1942).
While the name Leia has ancient roots and has been used throughout history, it gained widespread popularity in modern times after the release of the Star Wars films, where Princess Leia Organa, played by Carrie Fisher, became an iconic character.
People
Leia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Leia 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
Leia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Leia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 17,446 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Leia 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 19,647 US residents.
Is Leia a common name?
We classify Leia as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 17,736 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Leia most popular?
The single biggest year for Leia was 2023, when 1,424 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Leia is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Leia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 11,314 people with the name Leia, or 3.75 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,286 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 Leia 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 Leia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Leia appears almost entirely female. Of the 11,311 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Leia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leia is White at 48.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (25.4%) and Two or More Races (9.3%). 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 Leia most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Leia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 48.4% (5,479 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 Leia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Leia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Leia 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 Leia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Leia 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 Leia 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 have the name Leia?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Leia, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.