Leighanna
A feminine name of English origin, meaning "meadow".
Name Census estimates that about 1,177 living Americans carry the first name Leighanna. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Leighanna today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Leighanna births was 2008 (48 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Leighanna. 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 Leighanna with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 291,210 Americans
Peak year
2008
48 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,263
Tracked since 1973
Census
Leighanna in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,039 people with the first name Leighanna, which placed it at #12,107 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
#12,107
National first-name rank
People counted
1.0K
1,039 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
76.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Leighanna
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leighanna is White at 76.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (9.1%) and Black (6.4%). 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 Leighanna 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 Leighanna at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White76.2% · 792
- Hispanic or Latino9.1% · 95
- Black or African American6.4% · 66
- Two or more races5.4% · 56
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 17
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 13
Popularity
Leighanna: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Leighanna from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 326 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Leighanna 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 Leighanna during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Leighannas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. Georgia, California, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Leighanna, while Texas, New York, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 8 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Leighanna
The name Leighanna is a variant of the English name Leanne, which itself is a contracted form of the French name Léanne or Léliane. The name Léanne is derived from the French phrase "l'hirondelle," meaning "the swallow." This connection to the swallow bird suggests that the name may have originated as a descriptive nickname for someone with a gracefulness or fleetingness reminiscent of the swallow's flight.
Leighanna can be traced back to the Middle Ages, with some of the earliest recorded instances appearing in medieval French records from the 12th and 13th centuries. During this time, the name was often spelled as "Lealiana" or "Lealane," reflecting its French origins.
While the name Leighanna does not appear to have any direct references in ancient texts or religious scriptures, its French root word "hirondelle" was mentioned in several medieval poetry and literature works, often used as a symbol of spring, renewal, and freedom.
One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name Leighanna was Leighanna de Montfort, a French noblewoman who lived in the late 12th century. Another notable figure was Leighanna de Courtenay, a member of the influential Courtenay family in the 13th century.
In the 16th century, Leighanna Boleyn, a distant relative of Anne Boleyn, was a lady-in-waiting at the court of King Henry VIII of England.
During the Renaissance period, the Italian artist Leighanna Sirani (1638-1670) gained recognition for her exceptional skills in painting and drawing.
In the 19th century, Leighanna Quincy Adams (1828-1859), the daughter of the 6th President of the United States, John Quincy Adams, was a notable figure in American high society.
These examples showcase the rich history and diverse cultural influences that have shaped the name Leighanna over the centuries, from its French origins to its adoption and adaptation across various regions and social strata.
People
Leighanna + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Leighanna 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
Leighanna: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Leighanna?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,177 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Leighanna 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 291,210 US residents.
Is Leighanna a common name?
We classify Leighanna as "Rare". It ranks above 91.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,207 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Leighanna most popular?
The single biggest year for Leighanna was 2008, when 48 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Leighanna is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Leighanna in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,039 people with the name Leighanna, or 0.34 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,107 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 Leighanna 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 Leighanna?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Leighanna appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,041 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 Leighanna?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leighanna is White at 76.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (9.1%) and Black (6.4%). 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 Leighanna most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Leighanna in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.2% (792 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 Leighanna in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Leighanna a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Leighanna 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 Leighanna still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Leighanna 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 Leighanna 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 Leighanna?
See how many people share the name Leighanna on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.