Meaning not yet researched.
Leif: US boys given the name each year, 1880 to 2025, from Social Security card applications. 257 in 2025. Its best rank was #638 in 1979.
US births per year · SSA card applications
Peaked at #638 in 1979; #917 in 2025. Every baby recorded as Leif in 2025 was a boy.
Baby name · US data 1880–2025
#917 for US boys in 2025. Its best year was 1979, at #638.
Hover, tap or use the arrow keys for any year. Years with fewer than five babies of a sex are not published by SSA and show as zero.
Leif: US boys given the name each year from 1880 to 2025. 257 boys in 2025. Peak: #638 in 1979 · most boys in one year: 290 (2022).
In 2025, 257 US boys were named Leif, making it the 917th most common boys’ name of the year, up 11 places from #928 in 2024. That is 7 more than the 250 boys named Leif in 2024. Its best rank for boys was #638, reached in 1979. The most boys given the name in a single year was 290, in 2022. For comparison, it was #1,063 in 2015 and #1,135 in 1950.
Social Security card records list Leif in 114 years of the 146 from 1880 to 2025, starting in 1912 with 7 babies. In all, 10,002 US babies have been given the name, all of them boys. Its busiest decade was the 2010s, with 1,971 babies named Leif.
Over the 10 years from 2016 to 2025, 2,386 US boys were named Leif; the busiest of those years was 2022, with 290. In 2025 that was about 1 in 6,646 of the boys in SSA’s list for the year.
Among the states, Leif ranked highest in Montana in 2025, at #264 for boys there. It was not in the top 100 of any state. Rarer spellings such as Lief, Leaf and Life are summarised on this page.
Meaning not yet researched.
We publish a meaning only with a cited source and a confidence label, and never generate one. Meanings are being researched for the most common names first.
No related spellings pass our data threshold.
Rare spellings summarised here: Lief (279), Leaf (134), Life (84), Leiv (5).
Numbers are all-time US births. Links come from Wikidata’s “said to be the same as” (P460, CC0) and our spelling rule: at most two letters different, with the same sound pattern.
No nicknames listed for Leif in the open dataset we use.
Source: carltonnorthern/nicknames (Apache-2.0).
US boys. Rank within each state. SSA leaves out states where fewer than five boys got the name, so 29 are not listed.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank 2025 | Rank 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Montana | 5 | #264 | — |
| Utah | 13 | #364 | #654 |
| Washington | 17 | #436 | #584 |
| Idaho | 5 | #466 | — |
| Colorado | 12 | #487 | #466 |
| Wisconsin | 9 | #552 | #639 |
| Minnesota | 7 | #686 | #417 |
| Tennessee | 10 | #702 | — |
| South Carolina | 6 | #712 | — |
| Florida | 21 | #740 | #1,629 |
| Michigan | 10 | #751 | #1,054 |
| Arizona | 7 | #820 | — |
| Massachusetts | 5 | #854 | — |
| Pennsylvania | 8 | #974 | — |
| Virginia | 6 | #1,038 | — |
| Texas | 22 | #1,056 | #1,862 |
| California | 17 | #1,181 | #947 |
| North Carolina | 5 | #1,394 | #1,079 |
| Ohio | 5 | #1,395 | — |
| Illinois | 5 | #1,412 | — |
| Georgia | 5 | #1,466 | — |
| New York | 6 | #1,671 | #1,425 |
Births and national rank for each year SSA lists the name, newest first.
| Year | Girls | Girls rank | Boys | Boys rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | — | — | 257 | #917 |
| 2024 | — | — | 250 | #928 |
| 2023 | — | — | 279 | #860 |
| 2022 | — | — | 290 | #841 |
| 2021 | — | — | 221 | #995 |
| 2020 | — | — | 245 | #914 |
| 2019 | — | — | 205 | #1,015 |
| 2018 | — | — | 207 | #1,003 |
| 2017 | — | — | 218 | #957 |
| 2016 | — | — | 214 | #966 |
| 2015 | — | — | 187 | #1,063 |
| 2014 | — | — | 205 | #1,007 |
| 2013 | — | — | 195 | #1,007 |
| 2012 | — | — | 179 | #1,063 |
| 2011 | — | — | 185 | #1,029 |
| 2010 | — | — | 176 | #1,093 |
| 2009 | — | — | 175 | #1,068 |
| 2008 | — | — | 140 | #1,247 |
| 2007 | — | — | 128 | #1,329 |
| 2006 | — | — | 135 | #1,245 |
| 2005 | — | — | 152 | #1,087 |
| 2004 | — | — | 114 | #1,307 |
| 2003 | — | — | 138 | #1,116 |
| 2002 | — | — | 101 | #1,322 |
| 2001 | — | — | 120 | #1,155 |
| 2000 | — | — | 126 | #1,118 |
| 1999 | — | — | 114 | #1,154 |
| 1998 | — | — | 91 | #1,310 |
| 1997 | — | — | 81 | #1,371 |
| 1996 | — | — | 89 | #1,252 |
| 1995 | — | — | 81 | #1,309 |
| 1994 | — | — | 84 | #1,279 |
| 1993 | — | — | 75 | #1,317 |
| 1992 | — | — | 79 | #1,278 |
| 1991 | — | — | 97 | #1,115 |
| 1990 | — | — | 87 | #1,169 |
| 1989 | — | — | 81 | #1,192 |
| 1988 | — | — | 94 | #1,009 |
| 1987 | — | — | 97 | #957 |
| 1986 | — | — | 113 | #855 |
| 1985 | — | — | 110 | #864 |
| 1984 | — | — | 113 | #825 |
| 1983 | — | — | 136 | #740 |
| 1982 | — | — | 164 | #680 |
| 1981 | 5 | #11,330 | 154 | #699 |
| 1980 | — | — | 169 | #664 |
| 1979 | — | — | 181 | #638 |
| 1978 | — | — | 124 | #759 |
| 1977 | — | — | 82 | #946 |
| 1976 | — | — | 90 | #881 |
| 1975 | — | — | 109 | #799 |
| 1974 | — | — | 97 | #818 |
| 1973 | — | — | 95 | #814 |
| 1972 | — | — | 109 | #763 |
| 1971 | — | — | 114 | #769 |
| 1970 | — | — | 157 | #654 |
| 1969 | — | — | 135 | #681 |
| 1968 | — | — | 102 | #739 |
| 1967 | — | — | 96 | #755 |
| 1966 | — | — | 72 | #858 |
| 1965 | — | — | 83 | #810 |
| 1964 | — | — | 80 | #852 |
| 1963 | — | — | 86 | #818 |
| 1962 | — | — | 77 | #868 |
| 1961 | — | — | 77 | #871 |
| 1960 | — | — | 78 | #864 |
| 1959 | — | — | 61 | #989 |
| 1958 | — | — | 48 | #1,109 |
| 1957 | — | — | 58 | #1,000 |
| 1956 | — | — | 44 | #1,149 |
| 1955 | — | — | 44 | #1,126 |
| 1954 | — | — | 46 | #1,108 |
| 1953 | — | — | 46 | #1,084 |
| 1952 | — | — | 34 | #1,285 |
| 1951 | — | — | 21 | #1,665 |
| 1950 | — | — | 40 | #1,135 |
| 1949 | — | — | 38 | #1,155 |
| 1948 | — | — | 23 | #1,540 |
| 1947 | — | — | 21 | #1,681 |
| 1946 | — | — | 20 | #1,624 |
| 1945 | — | — | 17 | #1,668 |
| 1944 | — | — | 13 | #2,044 |
| 1943 | — | — | 17 | #1,802 |
| 1942 | — | — | 18 | #1,710 |
| 1941 | — | — | 13 | #2,052 |
| 1940 | — | — | 16 | #1,770 |
| 1939 | — | — | 19 | #1,560 |
| 1938 | — | — | 13 | #2,047 |
| 1937 | — | — | 13 | #2,048 |
| 1936 | — | — | 8 | #2,755 |
| 1935 | — | — | 7 | #3,129 |
| 1934 | — | — | 8 | #2,853 |
| 1933 | — | — | 7 | #3,161 |
| 1932 | — | — | 12 | #2,263 |
| 1931 | — | — | 14 | #2,057 |
| 1930 | — | — | 10 | #2,706 |
| 1929 | — | — | 15 | #2,058 |
| 1928 | — | — | 14 | #2,219 |
| 1927 | — | — | 10 | #2,820 |
| 1926 | — | — | 16 | #2,035 |
| 1925 | — | — | 15 | #2,138 |
| 1924 | — | — | 11 | #2,755 |
| 1923 | — | — | 12 | #2,534 |
| 1922 | — | — | 14 | #2,297 |
| 1921 | — | — | 13 | #2,445 |
| 1920 | — | — | 6 | #4,072 |
| 1919 | — | — | 20 | #1,732 |
| 1918 | — | — | 18 | #1,865 |
| 1917 | — | — | 17 | #1,868 |
| 1916 | — | — | 17 | #1,816 |
| 1915 | — | — | 21 | #1,535 |
| 1914 | — | — | 14 | #1,733 |
| 1913 | — | — | 13 | #1,550 |
| 1912 | — | — | 7 | #2,154 |
About the data: counts are Social Security card applications for US births, for names given to at least five babies of a sex in a year (SSA, names.zip, public domain). Ranks follow SSA’s own order: most births first, ties alphabetical. Files retrieved 2026-10-05 (checksum on our sources page).