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Lesli

#8,136 in 2025Girls' name

Meaning and linguistic origin unconfirmed

Lesli has been given to 5,799 babies in the U.S. since 1946. In 2025 it ranked #8,136 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2001, with 166 recorded.

Babies named Lesli, 2025

1 in 255,000

Lesli over time, 1880–2025

Girls
05010015020018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Lesli: meaning, origin, and history

Meaning and linguistic origin unconfirmed

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Lesli means

Lesli is a given name.

The naming story behind Lesli

Wikidata records Lesli as a female given name. The entity identifier is Q6530558, and the classification was checked on 2026-10-20. The spelling matches a source label or alias exactly, without removing accents or linking it to a name merely because the letters look similar.

A database classification is different from an etymological explanation, so those questions remain open in the short meaning.

A modern root explanation needs an additional naming or linguistic reference.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 5,799 girls were recorded with the name Lesli between 1946 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 166 in 2001; its best national rank was #839 in 1967.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #6,799 in 2020 to #8,136 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #5,393 in 2015 to #8,136 in 2025.

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.

How common is Lesli?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 255,000
13 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 124,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#8,136
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
176,762 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Lesli sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

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 176,762 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Lesli. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Leslis were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Lesli was born before 1982 — so the typical Lesli is around 43 today.

Median birth year
1982
About 43 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
24.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
28.9%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
5,749
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 24.5% of all recorded uses (1,420).

Is Lesli 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
−2,418
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−1,337
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−2,743
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.52×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
7.8%
Peak was 2001 (166)
Years since peak
24
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
28.3% average annual change
Best rank ever
#839
1967

Spellings of Lesli

Lesli is not the most common spelling — Leslie is, with 40.5% against Lesli's 0.87%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Lesli is used

Across 1910–2025, Lesli was most concentrated in Texas — about 1 in 14,286 girls, against 1 in 47,990 across all states with data. It was least common in Pennsylvania (1 in —).

07 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Texas1 in 14,286
  2. 2California1 in 20,000
  3. 3Oklahoma1 in 25,000
  4. 4Colorado1 in 33,333
  5. 5Arizona1 in 50,000
  6. 6Florida1 in 50,000
  7. 7Georgia1 in 50,000
  8. 8Illinois1 in 50,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls 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. Lesli has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Lesli around the world

Where Lesli 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.

  • South Australia
    1961–1961
    #665
    in 1961

Popularity data from Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Lesli

People whose public names include Lesli, 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.

Lesli by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#8,136
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 1,337
Best rank ever
#839
1967
Peak year
2001
166 that year
First recorded
1946
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
5,799
Count in 2025
13

Names similar to Lesli

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

LeslyLesiaLesleeLesleyLesaLeslyeLessieLeshaLestaLesterLessliLesslyYesliLeshiaPresliEsliKensliLeslieAsliLesleLesleaLessaLesslieLeshay

Names with a curve like Lesli

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

DelanaMichelAnnamariaMegMelonyLourdesBrigidCamiJolynnTamyraAnetteDennise

Sibling names for Lesli

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 Lesli

Top names of 2001, Lesli's peak yearThe 2000s in fullOther names that peaked in 1967Girls' names starting with L