Lennie
A diminutive form of the name Leonard or Lena, of Germanic origin.
Name Census estimates that about 3,019 living Americans carry the first name Lennie. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 62.3% of registrations being female. The average person named Lennie today is around 57 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lennie births was 1921 (147 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lennie. 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 Lennie with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Lennie sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
People living today
3.0K
~ 1 in 113,532 Americans
Peak year
1921
147 babies that year
Average age
57
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,137
Tracked since 1880
Census
Lennie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,834 people with the first name Lennie, which placed it at #5,853 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
#5,853
National first-name rank
People counted
2.8K
2,834 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
58.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lennie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lennie is White at 58.5%. The next largest groups are Black (23.3%) and Hispanic (7.1%). 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 Lennie 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 Lennie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White58.5% · 1,659
- Black or African American23.3% · 659
- Hispanic or Latino7.1% · 200
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.4% · 182
- Two or more races2.9% · 81
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.9% · 53
Gender
Gender distribution for Lennie
Lennie is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 7,648 total registrations, 2,882 (37.7%) were male and 4,766 (62.3%) were female.
Lennie as a male name
- Ranked #11,744 in 2024
- 6 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1957 (82 births)
Lennie as a female name
- Ranked #3,137 in 2024
- 51 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1915 (123 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Lennie on both sides of the split. Of the 2,841 people counted with this name, 1,487 were male (52.3%) and 1,354 were female (47.7%).
Popularity
Lennie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lennie from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 1,029 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lennie 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 Lennie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lennies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 24 states and territories. Texas, Alabama, Tennessee recorded the most babies named Lennie, while Pennsylvania, Ohio, Nebraska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 73 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lennie
The name Lennie is derived from the Germanic root "Lenn" or "Len," which means "lion" or "brave one." It originated in the medieval period, around the 12th century, and was primarily used in England and other parts of the British Isles.
The earliest recorded instance of the name Lennie can be traced back to the 13th century, when it appeared in various historical documents and records. It was initially a diminutive form of the name Leonard, which itself had roots in the Germanic name "Leonhard" or "Levnhart."
One of the earliest notable individuals to bear the name Lennie was Lennie Penillion, a Welsh bard and poet who lived in the 14th century. He is renowned for his contribution to the preservation of Welsh literature and cultural heritage.
During the Renaissance period, the name Lennie gained popularity across Europe, particularly in England and Scotland. One prominent figure from this era was Lennie Calvert, an English navigator and explorer who accompanied Sir Walter Raleigh on his expeditions to the New World in the late 16th century.
In the 17th century, the name Lennie was associated with Lennie Wilkinson, a renowned English mathematician and astronomer. He made significant contributions to the study of celestial mechanics and the calculation of planetary orbits.
Moving into the 18th century, Lennie Bronte was a notable English author and poet. Born in 1818, he is best known for his literary works that explored themes of love, nature, and the human condition.
In the 20th century, the name Lennie gained further recognition with Lennie Grahame, a Scottish actor and playwright. Born in 1904, he is celebrated for his roles in numerous stage productions and his contributions to the Scottish theater scene.
While the name Lennie has its roots in the medieval period, it has endured through the ages and continues to be used in various parts of the world today, carrying with it a rich cultural and historical legacy.
People
Lennie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lennie 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
Lennie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lennie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,019 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lennie 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 113,532 US residents.
Is Lennie a common name?
We classify Lennie as "Rare". It ranks above 95.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 7,648 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lennie most popular?
The single biggest year for Lennie was 1921, when 147 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lennie is about 57 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lennie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,834 people with the name Lennie, or 0.94 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,853 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 Lennie 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 Lennie?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Lennie on both sides of the split. Of the 2,841 people counted with this name, 1,487 were male (52.3%) and 1,354 were female (47.7%). 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 Lennie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lennie is White at 58.5%. The next largest groups are Black (23.3%) and Hispanic (7.1%). 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 Lennie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lennie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 58.5% (1,659 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 Lennie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lennie a female name?
Yes, 62.3% of people registered as Lennie 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 Lennie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lennie 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 Lennie 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 named Lennie?
Want to know how many Americans are named Lennie? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.