Name Awesome

Len

#9,373 in 2025Boys' name

Lion, through Leonard

Len has been given to 4,616 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #9,373 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1960, with 121 recorded.

Babies named Len, 2025

1 in 414,000

Len over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
05010015018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Len: meaning, origin, and history

Lion, through Leonard

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Len means

Len belongs to the name family reached through Len → Leonard. Its meaning is “lion”.

Origin, language, and formation

Len is used in English.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Leonard.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 4,514 boys were recorded with the name Len between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 121 in 1960; its best national rank was #514 in 1885.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #10,172 in 2020 to #9,373 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #6,913 in 2015 to #9,373 in 2025.

In the United States, 102 girls were recorded with the name Len between 1932 and 1972. Its highest annual count was 10 in 1964; its best national rank was #4,154 in 1950.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Len?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 414,000
8 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 213,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#9,373
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
287,238 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Len sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 287,238 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Len. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Lens were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Len was born before 1957 — so the typical Len is around 68 today.

Median birth year
1957
About 68 years old
Biggest decade
1960s
19.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
5.4%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
2,795
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1960s — 19.8% of all recorded uses (896).

Is Len rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
+133
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+799
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
−2,460
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.67×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
6.6%
Peak was 1960 (121)
Years since peak
65
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
32.7% average annual change
Best rank ever
#514
1885

Where Len is used

Across 1910–2025, Len was most concentrated in Illinois — about 1 in 50,000 boys, against 1 in 133,089 across all states with data. It was least common in Wisconsin (1 in —).

02 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Illinois1 in 50,000
  2. 2Mississippi1 in 50,000
  3. 3Alabama1 in 100,000
  4. 4California1 in 100,000
  5. 5Georgia1 in 100,000
  6. 6Hawaii1 in 100,000
  7. 7Louisiana1 in 100,000
  8. 8Michigan1 in 100,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Len has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Len around the world

Where Len ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    2004–2024
    #3,255
    in 2024
  • France
    2014–2023
    #6,774
    in 2023
  • Canada
    2016–2020
    #2,945
    in 2020
  • South Australia
    1944–2007
    #680
    in 2007

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Len

People whose public names include Len, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Len in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Len. Linked forms have their own page here.

LennLennyLehnLenart

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Len by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#9,373
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 799
Best rank ever
#514
1885
Peak year
1960
121 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
4,514
Count in 2025
8

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#4,154
1950
Peak year
1964
10 that year
First recorded
1932
Last recorded
1972
All-time count
102
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Len

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

LennyLenoxLeninOlenAlenLenoLennieKalenKylenLennonNolenRylenLenardArlenCalenLennoxTalenDalenDaylenTylenHarlenValenKallenHalen

Names with a curve like Len

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Len, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

LesleyLennieJameSalWallyCurtissDwaineDouglassBartonToneyRolfDell

Sibling names for Len

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Len

Top names of 1960, Len's peak yearThe 1960s in fullOther names that peaked in 1885Boys' names starting with L