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
Leslie through the years
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #628 among girls, with 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 on, more girls have.
  5. 1981
    Peak, #56
    4,934 babies named Leslie, its best rank.
  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.