Leslie

Where Leslie comes from

From a placename in Aberdeenshire, originally Lesslyn, Scottish Gaelic lios cuileann (“garden of hollies”).
— Wiktionary's entry for Leslie
  • 2 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #628 among girls — 8 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1926
    Leslie Nielsen born
    Canadian-American actor and comedian
  3. 1931
    Leslie Caron born
    French and American actress and dancer
  4. 1946
    Mostly girls from here
    Until now more boys than girls got the name; from this year it's the other way round, and has stayed that way.
  5. 1981
    Peak, #56
    4,934 babies named Leslie — more than any year before or since.
  6. 1993
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #138.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name transferred from the surname.
  • A female given name transferred from the surname, of mostly American usage.
  • A number of places in the United States:
  • A minor city in Searcy County, Arkansas.
  • An unincorporated community in Greenbrier County, West Virginia.
Namesakes
  • Leslie Nielsen · Canadian-American actor and comedian, 1926–2010
  • Leslie Caron · French and American actress and dancer, born 1931
  • Leslie Mann · American actress, born 1972
  • Leslie Cheung · Hong Kong singer and actor, 1956–2003
  • Leslie Howard · British actor, 1893–1943

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.