Lennox
An anglicized Scottish Gaelic name meaning "elm grove".
Name Census estimates that about 17,998 living Americans carry the first name Lennox. It sits at #263 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 72.4% of registrations being male. The average person named Lennox today is around 8 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lennox births was 2022 (1,914 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lennox. 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 Lennox with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Lennox is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 8 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
18K
~ 1 in 19,044 Americans
Peak year
2022
1,914 babies that year
Average age
8
years old
2024 SSA rank
#263
Tracked since 1918
Census
Lennox in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 9,409 people with the first name Lennox, which placed it at #2,566 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
#2,566
National first-name rank
People counted
9.4K
9,409 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
45.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lennox
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lennox is White at 45.2%. The next largest groups are Black (26.1%) and Hispanic (13.7%). 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 Lennox 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 Lennox at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White45.2% · 4,257
- Black or African American26.1% · 2,455
- Hispanic or Latino13.7% · 1,287
- Two or more races11.2% · 1,052
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.8% · 259
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 99
Gender
Gender distribution for Lennox
Lennox is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 18,172 total registrations, 13,160 (72.4%) were male and 5,012 (27.6%) were female.
Lennox as a male name
- Ranked #263 in 2024
- 1,320 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (1,426 births)
Lennox as a female name
- Ranked #688 in 2024
- 412 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (496 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Lennox on both sides of the split. Of the 9,407 people counted with this name, 6,900 were male (73.3%) and 2,507 were female (26.7%).
Popularity
Lennox: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lennox from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 8,964 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
Lennox 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 Lennox during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lennox' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 49 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Lennox, while Montana, Alaska, Maine recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 332 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lennox
The name Lennox has its origins in the Scottish Gaelic language. It is believed to have derived from the combination of the elements "lenn" meaning "elm" or "elm wood" and the suffix "-ocs" or "-ox," which refers to a place or territory. This suggests that the name Lennox was initially used as a locational surname, referring to a person or family from a place associated with elm trees or elm woods.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Lennox can be traced back to the 12th century in Scotland. It was initially used as a territorial designation for the region of Lennox, which was located in the central part of Scotland, near the present-day city of Glasgow. The Lennox area was ruled by a powerful Scottish family known as the Earls of Lennox, who played a significant role in Scottish history during the medieval period.
One of the most notable historical figures with the name Lennox was Duncan, Earl of Lennox (c. 1516-1581). He was a prominent Scottish nobleman who supported Mary, Queen of Scots, during the Scottish Reformation and the conflicts between Scotland and England. Another important figure was Esmé Stewart, 1st Duke of Lennox (1542-1583), a French nobleman who became a favorite of King James VI of Scotland and played a crucial role in the political affairs of the time.
In the 16th and 17th centuries, the name Lennox gained popularity among the aristocracy and gentry in Scotland and England. One example is James Lennox (1533-1578), a Scottish nobleman and soldier who served as the Lord Regent of Scotland during the minority of King James VI. Additionally, Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond (1672-1723), was a prominent English nobleman and military leader who served as the Governor-General of British North America.
The name Lennox also found its way into literature and the arts. Sir Walter Scott, the famous Scottish novelist and poet, featured the character of Ludovic Lennox, Earl of Lennox, in his 1818 novel "Rob Roy." This further popularized the name in the 19th century.
Throughout its history, the name Lennox has been associated with Scottish heritage, nobility, and a connection to the ancient territory of Lennox. While its usage may have waxed and waned over time, it remains a distinctive name with a rich historical background rooted in the Scottish Gaelic language and culture.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Lennox
People
Lennox + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lennox 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
Lennox: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lennox?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 17,998 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lennox 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 19,044 US residents.
Is Lennox a common name?
We classify Lennox 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, 18,172 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lennox most popular?
The single biggest year for Lennox was 2022, when 1,914 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lennox is about 8 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lennox in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 9,409 people with the name Lennox, or 3.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,566 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 Lennox 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 Lennox?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Lennox on both sides of the split. Of the 9,407 people counted with this name, 6,900 were male (73.3%) and 2,507 were female (26.7%). 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 Lennox?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lennox is White at 45.2%. The next largest groups are Black (26.1%) and Hispanic (13.7%). 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 Lennox most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lennox in the 2020 Census, accounting for 45.2% (4,257 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 Lennox in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lennox a male name?
Yes, 72.4% of people registered as Lennox in the SSA data are male. 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 Lennox still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lennox 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 Lennox 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 Lennox?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.