How rare is the name Leo?

118,356 people in the United States have the first name Leo, about 1 in 2,552. It ranks #478 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

LEO

#478

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
118,356
About
1 in 2,552
This common or more
57.6%
Who bears it

Of the 118,356 people named Leo, 60.1% reported their origin as White, 21.5% as Hispanic or Latino and 6.8% as Asian or Pacific Islander. 99.4% are male. These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Leo peaked in 2022, when 8,325 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
2022
Births that year
8,325
In 2025*
8,196 ▼2%
Recorded as
almost entirely male

At least 262,124 babies have been given the name since 1880. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Leo by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 2020s, when it ranked #36. The largest share of babies named Leo, 32.6%, were born in 2013 or later.

1880s#1962,159
1890s#1454,825
1900s#1545,784
1910s#11627,050
1920s#12837,456
1930s#20023,083
1940s#29917,075
1950s#38615,618
1960s#5409,539
1970s#7365,419
1980s#8594,583
1990s#9804,749
2000s#53612,312
2010s#14444,827
2020s#3647,645
Before 19012.9%
Greatest Generation 1901–2724.2%
Silent Generation 1928–4515.1%
Baby boom 1946–6410.7%
Generation X 1965–803.8%
Millennials 1981–962.8%
Generation Z 1997–128%
2013 and later32.6%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Leo is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Leo has been most common in Rhode Island (2.6×), New Hampshire (2.5×), and North Dakota (2.4×), and least common in Tennessee (0.49×).

245,111 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Leo

#476 Gabrielle · 118,795#477 Hayden · 118,666#479 Tom · 118,350#480 Yvonne · 118,154

Spelled almost the same

6 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Leo, most common first.

#336 Lee · 164,578#1,241 Lea · 30,568#3,132 Le · 7,000#3,302 Lei · 6,455#9,781 Lew · 1,401#36,185 Ley · 220

Also a last name

As a last name, Leo ranks #4,233 of 156,621, with 8,092 people. See Leo as a last name

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