Les

Where Les comes from

Wiktionary's etymology listing comes up empty for Les.

Les through the years
  1. 1900
    First appearance
    #1,310 among boys with 5 babies, the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1915
    Les Paul born
    American jazz guitarist, country guitarist, songwriter and inventor
  3. 1961
    Peak, #586
    182 babies named Les, the most in any year.
  4. 1966
    Les Ferdinand born
    English association football player
  5. 1966
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births, down to #800.
In the dictionary
  • A diminutive of the male given names Lester and Leslie.
  • A diminutive of the female given name Leslie.
Namesakes
  • Les Paul · American jazz guitarist, country guitarist, songwriter and inventor, 1915–2009
  • Les Ferdinand · English association football player, born 1966
  • Les Kurbas · Ukrainian and Soviet actor, theatre director, film director (1887—1937), 1887–1937
  • Les Aspin · American politician, 1938–1995
  • Les Murray · Australian poet and critic, 1938–2019

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.