Leshaun
Young warrior; Irish variant of an old Gaelic name.
Name Census estimates that about 254 living Americans carry the first name Leshaun. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 89.4% of registrations being male. The average person named Leshaun today is around 33 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Leshaun births was 1978 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Leshaun. 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.
People living today
254
~ 1 in 1,349,427 Americans
Peak year
1978
19 babies that year
Average age
33
years old
2017 SSA rank
#13,468
Tracked since 1971
Census
Leshaun in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 310 people with the first name Leshaun, which placed it at #28,807 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
#28,807
National first-name rank
People counted
310
310 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
89.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Leshaun
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leshaun is Black at 89.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.2%) and White (3.2%). 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 Leshaun 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 Leshaun at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American89.7% · 278
- Hispanic or Latino4.2% · 13
- White3.2% · 10
- Two or more races2.6% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Leshaun
Leshaun leans heavily male at 89.4% of total registrations, but 28 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Leshaun as a male name
- Ranked #13,468 in 2017
- 5 male births in 2017
- Peak: 1978 (19 births)
Leshaun as a female name
- Ranked #15,501 in 1998
- 5 female births in 1998
- Peak: 1975 (7 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Leshaun on both sides of the split. Of the 309 people counted with this name, 221 were male (71.5%) and 88 were female (28.5%).
Popularity
Leshaun: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Leshaun from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 70 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Leshaun remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Leshaun 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 Leshaun during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Leshaun
The name Leshaun has its origins in the Gaelic language, specifically from the Irish Gaelic words "le" meaning "with" and "sean" meaning "old" or "ancient." It is believed to have emerged as a given name during the Middle Ages, primarily used in Ireland.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Leshaun can be found in the Annals of Ulster, a chronicle of medieval Irish history, where it is mentioned in reference to a person living in the 12th century. However, the exact context and details surrounding this individual are not entirely clear.
Throughout the centuries, the name Leshaun has been associated with several notable figures in Irish history and literature. One such figure was Leshaun O'Conor, a prominent Irish chieftain who lived in the 14th century and was known for his fierce resistance against English rule.
Another individual of note was Leshaun O'Malley, a 16th-century Irish pirate and sailor who gained notoriety for his daring raids against English and Spanish ships along the coast of Ireland and the Atlantic Ocean.
In the realm of literature, the name Leshaun is featured in the works of renowned Irish playwright and novelist Seán O'Casey. One of his plays, "The Plough and the Stars," includes a character named Leshaun Curran, a young Irish rebel who plays a pivotal role in the events of the Easter Rising of 1916.
Moving forward in time, Leshaun O'Donoghue was an Irish revolutionary and politician who lived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was a prominent figure in the Irish Republican Brotherhood and played an active role in the Irish independence movement.
Lastly, Leshaun Donnelly was an Irish writer and poet who gained recognition in the 1960s and 1970s for his poignant works that explored themes of Irish identity, culture, and the struggles of the working class.
While the name Leshaun has maintained a certain level of popularity in Ireland throughout history, it remains relatively uncommon in other parts of the world. However, its rich cultural significance and historical associations within Irish heritage continue to make it a distinct and meaningful name choice.
People
Leshaun + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Leshaun 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
Leshaun: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Leshaun?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 254 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Leshaun 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 1,349,427 US residents.
Is Leshaun a common name?
We classify Leshaun as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 263 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Leshaun most popular?
The single biggest year for Leshaun was 1978, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Leshaun is about 33 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Leshaun in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 310 people with the name Leshaun, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #28,807 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 Leshaun 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 Leshaun?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Leshaun on both sides of the split. Of the 309 people counted with this name, 221 were male (71.5%) and 88 were female (28.5%). 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 Leshaun?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leshaun is Black at 89.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.2%) and White (3.2%). 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 Leshaun most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Leshaun in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.7% (278 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 Leshaun in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Leshaun a male name?
Yes, 89.4% of people registered as Leshaun 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 Leshaun still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Leshaun 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 Leshaun 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 Leshaun?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.