Leigh
A given name of English origin meaning "meadow" or "clearing".
Name Census estimates that about 38,138 living Americans carry the first name Leigh. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 88.7% of registrations being female. The average person named Leigh today is around 51 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Leigh births was 1969 (1,640 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Leigh. 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.
Key insights
- • Leigh started out as a boys' name but over the decades crossed over and is now given to girls far more often.
- • Compared to the 1970s, recent registration numbers for Leigh have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
38K
~ 1 in 8,987 Americans
Peak year
1969
1,640 babies that year
Average age
51
years old
2023 SSA rank
#3,421
Tracked since 1882
Gender
Gender distribution for Leigh
Leigh leans heavily female at 88.7% of total registrations, but 5,107 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Leigh as a male name
- Ranked #13,367 in 2023
- 5 male births in 2023
- Peak: 1955 (126 births)
Leigh as a female name
- Ranked #3,421 in 2024
- 46 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1969 (1,563 births)
Popularity
Leigh: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Leigh from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 12,011 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Leigh 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 Leigh during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Leighs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 49 states and territories. Texas, New York, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Leigh, while Montana, Alaska, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 783 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Leigh
The given name Leigh has its origins in the Old English language, derived from the word "leah," which means a meadow or clearing. This name dates back to Anglo-Saxon times in England, around the 5th to 11th centuries AD. It was originally a surname or descriptive name given to those who lived near a meadow or open field.
In its earliest recorded use as a first name, Leigh can be found in medieval English records and documents from the 13th century onwards. The name became more popular during the Renaissance period, particularly among the nobility and gentry classes in England.
One of the earliest notable bearers of the name Leigh was Leigh Hunt, an English essayist, poet, and critic who lived from 1784 to 1859. He was a prominent figure in the Romantic Movement and a close friend of writers like Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley.
Another famous individual with the name Leigh was Leigh Brackett, an American writer and screenwriter who lived from 1915 to 1978. She is best known for her contributions to the science fiction genre, including writing the screenplay for the classic film "The Empire Strikes Back" in the Star Wars franchise.
Leigh Steinberg, born in 1949, is a renowned sports agent and attorney who has represented some of the most prominent players in the National Football League (NFL), including Troy Aikman and Steve Young.
In the world of literature, Leigh Brackett, mentioned earlier, stands out as a significant figure, but there is also Leigh Hunt, an English critic and essayist from the 19th century, who was a prominent figure in the Romantic Movement.
Lastly, Leigh Ann Tuohy, born in 1960, is an American interior designer and the legal guardian of NFL player Michael Oher, whose life story was depicted in the popular film "The Blind Side."
Notable bearers
Famous people named Leigh
People
Leigh + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Leigh 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
Leigh: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Leigh?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 38,138 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Leigh 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 8,987 US residents.
Is Leigh a common name?
We classify Leigh as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 45,319 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Leigh most popular?
The single biggest year for Leigh was 1969, when 1,640 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Leigh is about 51 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Leigh a female name?
Yes, 88.7% of people registered as Leigh 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.
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.