Leighla
Feminine name derived from the Irish Gaelic name Lea meaning "island meadow".
Name Census estimates that about 876 living Americans carry the first name Leighla. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Leighla today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Leighla births was 2019 (63 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Leighla. 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 Leighla with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
876
~ 1 in 391,272 Americans
Peak year
2019
63 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,410
Tracked since 1988
Census
Leighla in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 642 people with the first name Leighla, which placed it at #17,263 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
#17,263
National first-name rank
People counted
642
642 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
53.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Leighla
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leighla is White at 53.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (20.9%) and Black (13.4%). 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 Leighla 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 Leighla at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White53.7% · 345
- Hispanic or Latino20.9% · 134
- Black or African American13.4% · 86
- Two or more races8.6% · 55
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.2% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 8
Popularity
Leighla: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Leighla from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 464 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Leighla remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Leighla 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 Leighla during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Leighlas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Leighla, while Ohio, Michigan, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 21 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Leighla
The name Leighla has its origins in the Gaelic language and cultures of the Celtic regions of the British Isles. It is believed to have emerged sometime during the Middle Ages, though its precise roots are somewhat unclear. One theory suggests it is derived from the Old Irish word "léith," meaning "gray" or "hoary," combined with a diminutive suffix such as "-la" or "-lean."
Another possible origin traces Leighla back to the Old Irish name "Laighile," which itself may have been a variant of the name "Lachlainn" or "Lochlann," meaning "from Norway" or "from the land of the Norse." This would suggest a connection to the Vikings who raided and settled in parts of Ireland and Scotland during the 8th to 11th centuries.
While there are no definitive historical references or mentions of the name Leighla in ancient texts or religious scriptures, some of the earliest recorded examples of the name can be found in medieval Irish and Scottish genealogical records and chronicles from the 12th to 14th centuries.
One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Leighla O'Boyle, a 14th-century Irish noblewoman from County Donegal, who was recorded as the wife of Niall Óg O'Donnell, a prominent chieftain of the O'Donnell clan.
Another notable figure was Leighla MacLean, a 16th-century Scottish woman from the Clan MacLean, who was recorded as the wife of Hector Mor, the 15th Chief of the Clan MacLean, in the late 1500s.
In the 17th century, Leighla O'Neill was a member of the powerful O'Neill dynasty of Ulster, who was recorded as the wife of Sir Phelim O'Neill, a key figure in the Irish Rebellion of 1641.
Moving into the 18th century, Leighla Cameron was a Scottish woman from the Clan Cameron, who was recorded as the wife of Donald Cameron, a Jacobite soldier and supporter of the House of Stuart during the Jacobite risings of the early 1700s.
Finally, in the 19th century, Leighla O'Connor was an Irish woman from County Mayo, who was recorded as the wife of Patrick O'Connor, a prominent landowner and member of the local gentry in the mid-1800s.
These examples illustrate the long and diverse history of the name Leighla across various Celtic cultures and regions, spanning from medieval times to the 19th century.
People
Leighla + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Leighla 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
Leighla: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Leighla?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 876 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Leighla 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 391,272 US residents.
Is Leighla a common name?
We classify Leighla as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 884 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Leighla most popular?
The single biggest year for Leighla was 2019, when 63 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Leighla is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Leighla in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 642 people with the name Leighla, or 0.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,263 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 Leighla 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 Leighla?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Leighla appears almost entirely female. Of the 639 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 Leighla?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leighla is White at 53.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (20.9%) and Black (13.4%). 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 Leighla most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Leighla in the 2020 Census, accounting for 53.7% (345 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 Leighla in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Leighla a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Leighla 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 Leighla still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Leighla 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 Leighla 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 are called Leighla?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.