Lesley

Where Lesley comes from

From a placename in Aberdeenshire, originally Lesslyn, Scottish Gaelic lios cuileann (“garden of hollies”).
— Wiktionary's entry for Lesley
  • Vowel-ended
Lesley through the years
  1. 1893
    First appearance
    #1,437 among girls with 5 babies, the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1941
    Mostly girls from here
    Until now more boys than girls got the name. From this year on, more girls have.
  3. 1946
    Lesley Gore born
    American singer
  4. 1956
    Lesley Manville born
    British actress
  5. 1979
    Peak, #267
    913 babies named Lesley, its best rank.
  6. 1989
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births, down to #566.
In the dictionary
  • A female given name transferred from the surname, used since the 18th century. Popular in the U.K. in the mid-20th century.
  • A male given name transferred from the surname.
Namesakes
  • Lesley Manville · British actress, born 1956
  • Lesley Gore · American singer, 1946–2015
  • Lesley Ann Warren · American actress, born 1946
  • Lesley Roy · Irish singer, born 1986
  • Lesley Ugochukwu · French footballer, born 2004

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.