Lennon
Of Irish origin, meaning "lover" or "descended from the lover".
Name Census estimates that about 18,438 living Americans carry the first name Lennon. It sits at #237 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 59.2% of registrations being female. The average person named Lennon today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lennon births was 2022 (1,730 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lennon. 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 Lennon with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Lennon started out as a boys' name but over the decades crossed over and is now given to girls far more often.
- • Lennon sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
- • Lennon is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 10 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
18K
~ 1 in 18,590 Americans
Peak year
2022
1,730 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#237
Tracked since 1913
Census
Lennon in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 10,130 people with the first name Lennon, which placed it at #2,447 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
#2,447
National first-name rank
People counted
10K
10,130 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lennon
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lennon is White at 74.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.3%) and Two or More Races (7.0%). 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 Lennon 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 Lennon at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.5% · 7,545
- Hispanic or Latino12.3% · 1,242
- Two or more races7.0% · 710
- Black or African American4.2% · 423
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 150
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 60
Gender
Gender distribution for Lennon
Lennon is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 18,838 total registrations, 7,694 (40.8%) were male and 11,144 (59.2%) were female.
Lennon as a male name
- Ranked #784 in 2024
- 320 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2016 (451 births)
Lennon as a female name
- Ranked #237 in 2024
- 1,311 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (1,318 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Lennon on both sides of the split. Of the 10,125 people counted with this name, 5,324 were male (52.6%) and 4,801 were female (47.4%).
Popularity
Lennon: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lennon from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 8,089 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
Lennon 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 Lennon during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lennons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 48 states and territories. California, Texas, Michigan recorded the most babies named Lennon, while Delaware, Alaska, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 324 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lennon
The name Lennon is an anglicized version of the Irish surname Ó Leannáin, which means "descendant of Leannán". Leannán is derived from the Irish word "leannán" meaning "lover" or "sweetheart". The name has its roots in the Gaelic culture of Ireland, where it was originally a patronymic surname.
In Ireland, the name Lennon first appeared in historical records in the 12th century, with references to individuals bearing this surname in County Galway and County Mayo. The name gained prominence during the Middle Ages, particularly among families associated with the Gaelic nobility and clans of Ireland.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Lennon was Muircheartach Ó Leannáin, a 14th-century Irish poet and historian from County Mayo. His work, known as the "Annals of Connacht", is a valuable source of information about Irish history during that period.
In the 16th century, the name Lennon appeared in the Annals of the Four Masters, a chronicle of medieval Irish history compiled by the Franciscan friars of Donegal. The annals mention several individuals with the surname Ó Leannáin, indicating their involvement in various events and conflicts of that era.
One of the most famous individuals to bear the name Lennon was John Lennon (1940-1980), the English singer, songwriter, and co-founder of the legendary rock band The Beatles. Although he did not carry the name from birth, he adopted the stage name "Lennon" as a tribute to his Irish heritage.
Another notable figure with the name Lennon was Annie Lennox (born 1954), the Scottish singer, songwriter, and political activist. While not directly related to the Irish surname, her stage name is believed to be inspired by the surname Lennon, reflecting her interest in her Scottish and Irish roots.
Other individuals with the first name Lennon include:
1. Lennon Parham (born 1976), an American actress and comedian.
2. Lennon Murphy (born 1996), an American actress and singer.
3. Lennon Stella (born 1999), a Canadian actress and singer-songwriter.
4. Lennon Lacy (1999-2014), an African American teenager whose death in North Carolina sparked national attention and debates about racial injustice.
5. Lennon Gallagher (born 1999), the son of Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher, named after John Lennon.
While the name Lennon has Irish origins, it has gained global recognition and popularity, particularly in the English-speaking world, due to the fame of individuals like John Lennon and the enduring influence of Irish culture and heritage.
People
Lennon + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lennon 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
Lennon: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lennon?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 18,438 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lennon 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 18,590 US residents.
Is Lennon a common name?
We classify Lennon 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, 18,838 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lennon most popular?
The single biggest year for Lennon was 2022, when 1,730 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lennon is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lennon in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 10,130 people with the name Lennon, or 3.35 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,447 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 Lennon 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 Lennon?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Lennon on both sides of the split. Of the 10,125 people counted with this name, 5,324 were male (52.6%) and 4,801 were female (47.4%). 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 Lennon?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lennon is White at 74.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.3%) and Two or More Races (7.0%). 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 Lennon most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lennon in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.5% (7,545 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 Lennon in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lennon a female name?
Yes, 59.2% of people registered as Lennon 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 Lennon still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lennon 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 Lennon 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 share the name Lennon?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.