Liesl
Diminutive form of the German name Elizabeth meaning "consecrated to God".
Name Census estimates that about 1,804 living Americans carry the first name Liesl. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Liesl today is around 33 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Liesl births was 1966 (100 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Liesl. 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 Liesl with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.8K
~ 1 in 189,997 Americans
Peak year
1966
100 babies that year
Average age
33
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,701
Tracked since 1965
Census
Liesl in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,860 people with the first name Liesl, which placed it at #7,937 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
#7,937
National first-name rank
People counted
1.9K
1,860 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
86.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Liesl
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Liesl is White at 86.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.5%) and Two or More Races (4.0%). 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 Liesl 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 Liesl at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White86.3% · 1,606
- Hispanic or Latino4.5% · 83
- Two or more races4.0% · 74
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.0% · 56
- Black or African American1.9% · 36
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 5
Popularity
Liesl: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Liesl from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 417 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Liesl remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Liesl 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 Liesl during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Liesls live
The SSA's state-level files cover 12 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Liesl, while Oregon, Massachusetts, Virginia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 21 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Liesl
The given name Liesl originated as a German diminutive form of the name Elisabeth. The name Elisabeth itself is derived from the Hebrew name Elisheva, meaning "God is my oath." Liesl emerged as a pet form or nickname version of Elisabeth in the 18th century, particularly popular in Bavaria and Austria.
In the 16th century, the name Elisabeth appeared in various biblical translations and religious texts, contributing to its widespread use across Europe. One of the earliest recorded instances of the diminutive Liesl dates back to the late 18th century, when it was used in German-speaking regions.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Liesl. One of the earliest was Liesl Karlstadt (1492-1552), a German Protestant Reformer and close associate of Martin Luther. Another prominent figure was Liesl Frank (1900-1945), a German writer and diarist who documented her experiences during the Holocaust.
In the realm of literature, the name Liesl gained fame through the character Liesl von Trapp in the 1959 musical play and subsequent 1965 film adaptation of "The Sound of Music." This fictional character, based on the real-life eldest Von Trapp daughter, helped popularize the name in the 20th century.
Other notable individuals named Liesl include Liesl Gephart (1904-1978), an Austrian figure skater and Olympic medalist, and Liesl Ridlon (1907-1997), an American aviator and one of the first female commercial pilots in the United States.
While the name Liesl has its roots in German-speaking regions, it has gained recognition and usage beyond its original cultural boundaries, particularly in English-speaking countries, thanks to its association with beloved literary and cinematic works.
People
Liesl + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Liesl 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
Liesl: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Liesl?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,804 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Liesl 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 189,997 US residents.
Is Liesl a common name?
We classify Liesl as "Rare". It ranks above 93.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,916 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Liesl most popular?
The single biggest year for Liesl was 1966, when 100 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Liesl 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 Liesl in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,860 people with the name Liesl, or 0.62 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,937 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 Liesl 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 Liesl?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Liesl appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,857 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Liesl?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Liesl is White at 86.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.5%) and Two or More Races (4.0%). 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 Liesl most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Liesl in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.3% (1,606 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 Liesl in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Liesl a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Liesl 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 Liesl still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Liesl 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 Liesl 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 Americans are named Liesl?
See how many people have the name Liesl on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.