Less
Simple, unadorned, minimal, or wanting.
Name Census estimates that about 37 living Americans carry the first name Less. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Less today is around 82 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Less births was 1923 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Less. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Less is about 82 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Less' were born before 1954.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Less. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
37
~ 1 in 9,263,631 Americans
Peak year
1923
14 babies that year
Average age
82
years old
1957 SSA rank
#3,430
Tracked since 1881
Census
Less in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 193 people with the first name Less, which placed it at #39,252 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
#39,252
National first-name rank
People counted
193
193 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
58.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Less
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Less is White at 58.0%. The next largest groups are Black (28.5%) and Hispanic (6.2%). 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 Less 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 Less at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White58.0% · 112
- Black or African American28.5% · 55
- Hispanic or Latino6.2% · 12
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.1% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 3
- Two or more races1.6% · 3
Popularity
Less: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Less from the 1880s through to the 1950s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 75 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
Less 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 Less 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 Less
The name Less is an English diminutive form of the name Leslie, which itself is derived from an Old Norman French place name meaning "garden" or "meadow". The name can be traced back to the 12th century and was originally a surname that later became a masculine given name.
Less is believed to have originated as a nickname or shortened version of Leslie in medieval England. It was often used as a pet name or informal way of addressing someone named Leslie. Over time, the name Less became an established given name in its own right.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Less can be found in the 13th century legal records of the English counties of Shropshire and Staffordshire. Entries from this period include references to individuals named Less or Lesse, suggesting that it was in use as a given name by the 1200s.
In the late 14th century, the name Less appears in the writings of the English poet Geoffrey Chaucer. In his famous work "The Canterbury Tales", Chaucer includes a character named "Lesse the Frere", or Brother Less, who is described as a friar or member of a religious order.
During the 16th and 17th centuries, the name Less continued to be used in England, although it remained relatively uncommon. Notable historical figures with this name include Less Chedworth (c. 1525-1593), an English lawyer and member of Parliament, and Less Halle (c. 1580-1654), a wealthy merchant and landowner from Gloucestershire.
Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, the name Less was occasionally bestowed upon individuals in various parts of the English-speaking world. For example, Less Brayton (1815-1889) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly, while Less Cunningham (1848-1910) was a Scottish-born Australian prospector and explorer.
Another notable bearer of the name was Less Maynard (1853-1929), an English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Somerset County Cricket Club and was known for his exceptional batting skills. He held the record for the highest individual score in a first-class match for over 20 years.
People
Less + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Less 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
Less: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Less?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 37 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Less 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 9,263,631 US residents.
Is Less a common name?
We classify Less as "Very Rare". It ranks above 49.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 281 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Less most popular?
The single biggest year for Less was 1923, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Less is about 82 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Less in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 193 people with the name Less, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #39,252 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 Less 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 Less?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Less leans strongly male. 159 people counted with this name were male (82.4%), compared with 34 female bearers (17.6%). 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 Less?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Less is White at 58.0%. The next largest groups are Black (28.5%) and Hispanic (6.2%). 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 Less most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Less in the 2020 Census, accounting for 58.0% (112 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 Less in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Less a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Less 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 Less still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Less 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 Less 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 have Less as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Less on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.