Leonard

Spellings & scripts●

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 4 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Leonard is also recorded as 6 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish given name194K records spelled Leonard6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Philippines, Venezuela, Colombia

  Languages: Spanish, Italian, Romanian

  Also written Léonard, Leonárd, Lêôńârd

• Polish given name87K records spelled Leonard37 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Poland, United States, Croatia, Czechia

  Languages: Polish, Croatian, Czech

  Also written Lenard, Леонард, Leonhard, Ленард, Leonárd

• a separate given name66K records spelled Leonard6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, India, Canada

  Also written Léonard, Leo-Nard, Lèonard, Leonárd, Lẽonard

• Finnish given name23K records spelled Leonard3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Finland, United States, Estonia, United Kingdom

  Languages: Finnish, Estonian

  Also written Léonard

• Albanian given name19K records spelled Leonard5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Albania, United States, Italy, United Kingdom

  Also written Lêóñàrd, Lèônârd, Léònârd, Léonard

• Hindi given name17K records spelled Leonard15 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, India, South Africa

  Languages: Hindi, Sinhala, Urdu

  Also written Leonardo, লিওনার্ড, Léonard, Lionardo

84 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Leonard is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, from OGerman Leonhard ‘lion-bold’; first attested Leonardus de Berhedon’ 1219 Cur (R)

  as a name·A Dictionary of English Surnames

• From an Old French personal name of Germanic origin, derived from Jeon ‘lion’ + hard ‘hardy’, ‘brave’, ‘strong’.

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

• adopted as an English equivalent of Gaelic Mac Giolla Fhionain or of Langan.

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• In English, A male given name from the Germanic languages.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Romanian, < it. Leonardo. 1. Leonardus notar sas din Brasov 1431-1444, apare In doc. rominetti ca. Lenart si Linard (Rel). 2. Numele apare si la romini Linart, stolnic, 1461 (T-Rom) 245 ; 13-14 B 131) ; cf. act. Linaru. 3. Leonard boier mold. (Sd XXII).

  as a name·Dictionar Onomastic Rominesc

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Sadi Carnotb. 1796FRnot in their usual nameFrench physicist, the "father of thermodynamics" (1796–1832)
• Leonard Bloomfieldb. 1887USAmerican linguist (1887–1949)
• Leonard Bernsteinb. 1918USAmerican conductor and composer (1918–1990)
• Paul Newmanb. 1925USnot in their usual nameAmerican actor (1925–2008)
• Leonard Nimoyb. 1931USAmerican actor (1931–2015)
• Leonard Cohenb. 1934CACanadian singer, songwriter and poet (1934–2016)
• Leonard Susskindb. 1940USAmerican physicist
• Timothy Daltonb. 1946GBnot in their usual nameBritish actor of stage, film and television
• Gregg L. Semenzab. 1956USnot in their usual nameAmerican physician and university teacher, Nobel laureate in Medicine, author of many retracted papers
• Oscar Pistoriusb. 1986ZAnot in their usual nameSouth African sprinter and convicted murderer (born 1986)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 1,512 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Leonard?

We estimate roughly 164 thousand people bear Leonard (counting its spellings and scripts) across 13 countries in our records.

In which country does Leonard have the most bearers?

Leonard is most frequently recorded in the United Kingdom, where it is most often spelled leonard.

Where is Leonard most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Leonard is densest in Albania — about 1 in 877 people — even though United Kingdom holds more of our records for it.

How common is Leonard compared with other names?

In the United Kingdom, Leonard is the 268th most common given name of 369,273 given names recorded there.

Is Leonard a male or female name?

Leonard is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Leonard mean?

Recorded meaning: from the male personal name Leonard, of Germanic origin, literally ‘lion-brave’; also a different form of Lennon.