Lesslie
A variant spelling of the feminine name Leslie, of Scottish origin.
Name Census estimates that about 509 living Americans carry the first name Lesslie. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 77.8% of registrations being female. The average person named Lesslie today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lesslie births was 2002 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lesslie. 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
- • Lesslie started out as a boys' name but over the decades crossed over and is now given to girls far more often.
People living today
509
~ 1 in 673,388 Americans
Peak year
2002
27 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
1962 SSA rank
#4,391
Tracked since 1915
Census
Lesslie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 594 people with the first name Lesslie, which placed it at #18,210 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
#18,210
National first-name rank
People counted
594
594 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
60.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lesslie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lesslie is Hispanic at 60.9%. The next largest groups are White (27.8%) and Black (8.4%). 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 Lesslie 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 Lesslie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino60.9% · 362
- White27.8% · 165
- Black or African American8.4% · 50
- Two or more races1.5% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Lesslie
Lesslie is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 641 total registrations, 142 (22.2%) were male and 499 (77.8%) were female.
Lesslie as a male name
- Ranked #4,391 in 1962
- 5 male births in 1962
- Peak: 1924 (11 births)
Lesslie as a female name
- Ranked #13,214 in 2019
- 7 female births in 2019
- Peak: 2002 (27 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lesslie leans strongly female. 523 people counted with this name were female (87.6%), compared with 74 male bearers (12.4%).
Popularity
Lesslie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lesslie from the 1910s through to the 2010s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 206 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lesslie 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 Lesslie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lesslies live
Origin
Meaning and history of Lesslie
The name Lesslie has its roots in the Old English language and can be traced back to the 8th century. It is derived from the combination of two words, "læss" meaning "less" and "leah" meaning "meadow" or "clearing in a forest." The name is believed to have originated as a locational surname, referring to someone who lived near a small meadow or clearing.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Lesslie can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of land ownership in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. Here, the name appears as "Lesseleia," referring to a settlement in Berkshire.
During the Middle Ages, the name Lesslie was primarily used in Scotland, where it was likely introduced by Anglo-Norman settlers. In the 13th century, a notable figure named Sir Andrew Lesslie of Rothes was recorded as a prominent knight and landowner in Moray, Scotland.
In the 16th century, the name Lesslie gained prominence through the Scottish family of Lesslie, who held the hereditary title of Earl of Rothes. This line of nobility included notable figures such as Andrew Lesslie (1507-1611), who served as Lord Provost of Edinburgh and played a significant role in the Scottish Reformation.
Another influential figure with the name Lesslie was John Lesslie (1571-1667), a Scottish mathematician and philosopher who made contributions to the development of calculus and was a contemporary of Sir Isaac Newton.
In the 18th century, the name Lesslie was brought to the American colonies by Scottish immigrants. One notable bearer was Arthur Lesslie (1728-1796), a Scottish-born merchant and plantation owner who settled in South Carolina and served as a delegate to the Continental Congress during the American Revolution.
Throughout history, the name Lesslie has been associated with various fields, including literature, music, and the arts. Some notable individuals with this first name include the American novelist Lesslie Newbigin (1909-1998), the Scottish composer Lesslie Alexander (1913-1997), and the English painter Lesslie Grace Whittall (1898-1985).
While the name Lesslie is not as common today as it once was, it continues to be used as a given name, carrying with it a rich history and cultural significance rooted in its Old English origins and its association with notable figures throughout the centuries.
People
Lesslie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lesslie 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
Lesslie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lesslie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 509 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lesslie 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 673,388 US residents.
Is Lesslie a common name?
We classify Lesslie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 641 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lesslie most popular?
The single biggest year for Lesslie was 2002, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lesslie is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lesslie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 594 people with the name Lesslie, or 0.20 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,210 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 Lesslie 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 Lesslie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lesslie leans strongly female. 523 people counted with this name were female (87.6%), compared with 74 male bearers (12.4%). 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 Lesslie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lesslie is Hispanic at 60.9%. The next largest groups are White (27.8%) and Black (8.4%). 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 Lesslie most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Lesslie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.9% (362 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 Lesslie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lesslie a female name?
Yes, 77.8% of people registered as Lesslie 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 Lesslie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lesslie 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 Lesslie 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 the name Lesslie?
See how many people have the name Lesslie on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.