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A name. A world of connections.
“lion”
Hear the name
French
01 / Meaning & origin
Léon is a masculine given name documented in French. English Wiktionary records an etymology for it. English Wikipedia gives the meaning “lion”.
Separate records with matching spellings: Leon (Danish, German), León (Spanish, Finnish), Leòn (Kashubian), Léon (French, Dutch), Lëon (st-28c3173402)
Meaning: “lion”
From the Breton word Leon.
02 / Across borders
Explore official naming statistics and documented language connections around the world.
The name atlas
8
countries in our sources
Select a country to follow Léon’s connections around the world.
8 countries with official statistics. Language records show cultural connections; they do not measure how common a name is.
Selected country
Statistics + language records
France (France métropolitaine et départements-régions d'outre-mer; avant 2012 France hors Mayotte), 2025: 2,835 boys (rank 8). Documented as a given name in French.
Explore France4 of 8 countries
03 / By the numbers
Follow the spelling through the years, one published dataset at a time.
1900–2025 Spelling: LÉON
Hover to explore a year. Use arrow keys when a chart point has focus.
Source: Insee · Fichier des prénoms — édition 2026 (naissances 1900 à 2025), fichier national
« VALEUR : fréquence arrondie au multiple de 5 le plus proche ». « La mise en place de cet arrondi, à partir de la diffusion de juillet 2025, est motivée par la variabilité de quelques unités d'une année à l'autre des fréquences et par la mise en œuvre des obligations relatives au secret statistique. » « En raison des arrondis, la somme des effectifs départementaux peut différer des effectifs régionaux ou nationaux. » Every observation is therefore valueStatus=rounded (verified: 0 rows with a count that is not a multiple of 5).
Per million is unavailable: this source has no matching published total.
| Year | Births | Rank | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1900 | 3,095 | 17 | rounded |
| 1901 | 3,415 | 16 | rounded |
| 1902 | 3,495 | 16 | rounded |
| 1903 | 3,530 | 18 | rounded |
| 1904 | 3,470 | 19 | rounded |
| 1905 | 3,485 | 20 | rounded |
| 1906 | 3,565 | 19 | rounded |
| 1907 | 3,490 | 21 | rounded |
| 1908 | 3,490 | 21 | rounded |
| 1909 | 3,540 | 21 | rounded |
| 1910 | 3,660 | 20 | rounded |
| 1911 | 3,215 | 21 | rounded |
| 1912 | 3,370 | 20 | rounded |
| 1913 | 3,235 | 20 | rounded |
| 1914 | 3,195 | 20 | rounded |
| 1915 | 2,170 | 20 | rounded |
| 1916 | 1,650 | 20 | rounded |
| 1917 | 1,720 | 22 | rounded |
| 1918 | 1,920 | 22 | rounded |
| 1919 | 2,065 | 23 | rounded |
| 1920 | 3,160 | 23 | rounded |
| 1921 | 2,910 | 23 | rounded |
| 1922 | 2,610 | 25 | rounded |
| 1923 | 2,575 | 25 | rounded |
| 1924 | 2,425 | 27 | rounded |
| 1925 | 2,345 | 29 | rounded |
| 1926 | 2,095 | 32 | rounded |
| 1927 | 2,035 | 31 | rounded |
| 1928 | 1,845 | 35 | rounded |
| 1929 | 1,740 | 34 | rounded |
| 1930 | 1,805 | 33 | rounded |
| 1931 | 1,635 | 35 | rounded |
| 1932 | 1,500 | 37 | rounded |
| 1933 | 1,410 | 37 | rounded |
| 1934 | 1,335 | 38 | rounded |
| 1935 | 1,155 | 39 | rounded |
| 1936 | 1,065 | 42 | rounded |
| 1937 | 1,025 | 42 | rounded |
| 1938 | 875 | 42 | rounded |
| 1939 | 805 | 44 | rounded |
| 1940 | 715 | 45 | rounded |
| 1941 | 580 | 51 | rounded |
| 1942 | 530 | 57 | rounded |
| 1943 | 465 | 64 | rounded |
| 1944 | 445 | 66 | rounded |
| 1945 | 410 | 70 | rounded |
| 1946 | 515 | 78 | rounded |
| 1947 | 500 | 79 | rounded |
| 1948 | 510 | 81 | rounded |
| 1949 | 420 | 92 | rounded |
| 1950 | 375 | 94 | rounded |
| 1951 | 310 | 102 | rounded |
| 1952 | 275 | 105 | rounded |
| 1953 | 265 | 111 | rounded |
| 1954 | 220 | 118 | rounded |
| 1955 | 250 | 111 | rounded |
| 1956 | 195 | 125 | rounded |
| 1957 | 165 | 136 | rounded |
| 1958 | 175 | 135 | rounded |
| 1959 | 165 | 145 | rounded |
| 1960 | 150 | 158 | rounded |
| 1961 | 120 | 180 | rounded |
| 1962 | 135 | 174 | rounded |
| 1963 | 105 | 202 | rounded |
| 1964 | 95 | 215 | rounded |
| 1965 | 75 | 244 | rounded |
| 1966 | 60 | 281 | rounded |
| 1967 | 55 | 305 | rounded |
| 1968 | 50 | 325 | rounded |
| 1969 | 45 | 349 | rounded |
| 1970 | 55 | 326 | rounded |
| 1971 | 30 | 483 | rounded |
| 1972 | 30 | 532 | rounded |
| 1973 | 20 | 669 | rounded |
| 1974 | 25 | 565 | rounded |
| 1975 | 20 | 671 | rounded |
| 1976 | 15 | 806 | rounded |
| 1977 | 20 | 640 | rounded |
| 1978 | 15 | 817 | rounded |
| 1979 | 10 | 1,083 | rounded |
| 1980 | 20 | 747 | rounded |
| 1981 | 25 | 671 | rounded |
| 1982 | 25 | 673 | rounded |
| 1983 | 20 | 817 | rounded |
| 1984 | 25 | 690 | rounded |
| 1985 | 25 | 700 | rounded |
| 1986 | 20 | 844 | rounded |
| 1987 | 20 | 791 | rounded |
| 1988 | 25 | 699 | rounded |
| 1989 | 30 | 671 | rounded |
| 1990 | 30 | 674 | rounded |
| 1991 | 40 | 607 | rounded |
| 1992 | 40 | 616 | rounded |
| 1993 | 45 | 570 | rounded |
| 1994 | 60 | 481 | rounded |
| 1995 | 75 | 437 | rounded |
| 1996 | 110 | 348 | rounded |
| 1997 | 130 | 326 | rounded |
| 1998 | 160 | 293 | rounded |
| 1999 | 160 | 288 | rounded |
| 2000 | 180 | 279 | rounded |
| 2001 | 205 | 269 | rounded |
| 2002 | 215 | 268 | rounded |
| 2003 | 250 | 242 | rounded |
| 2004 | 250 | 245 | rounded |
| 2005 | 290 | 236 | rounded |
| 2006 | 300 | 238 | rounded |
| 2007 | 345 | 206 | rounded |
| 2008 | 360 | 202 | rounded |
| 2009 | 505 | 155 | rounded |
| 2010 | 385 | 188 | rounded |
| 2011 | 500 | 151 | rounded |
| 2012 | 780 | 91 | rounded |
| 2013 | 1,030 | 64 | rounded |
| 2014 | 1,065 | 63 | rounded |
| 2015 | 1,245 | 52 | rounded |
| 2016 | 1,375 | 49 | rounded |
| 2017 | 1,620 | 40 | rounded |
| 2018 | 1,875 | 32 | rounded |
| 2019 | 2,120 | 25 | rounded |
| 2020 | 2,170 | 22 | rounded |
| 2021 | 2,365 | 16 | rounded |
| 2022 | 2,205 | 20 | rounded |
| 2023 | 2,225 | 16 | rounded |
| 2024 | 2,570 | 10 | rounded |
| 2025 | 2,835 | 8 | rounded |
Statistics count the spelling “LÉON” as recorded by the publisher. When a spelling has several independent origins, the counts are not split between them. Counts measure births. Gaps are years without a published value, not zeros.
Rates per million are unavailable for this series because no compatible denominator has been imported.
Released 2026-07-16 · Retrieved 2026-10-14 · LO-2.0
Read our methodology04 / Through time
Passages quoted verbatim from public-domain reference works. They reflect the scholarship of their time, not current consensus, and may use obsolete spellings.
Leon— “lion”
Leon, or Leo, was early a favourite name among the Greeks; and Herodotus thinks, on account of its meaning, that the captive Leo was the first victim of the Persians. It passed on in unceasing succession through Greeks of all ranks till it came to Byzantine emperors and Roman bishops. Two popes, to whom Rome owed the deepest debt of gratitude—to the one, for interceding with Attila; to the other, for turning away the wrath of the Saracens—were both called Leo, and it thus…
Leon, or Leo, was early a favourite name among the Greeks; and Herodotus thinks, on account of its meaning, that the captive Leo was the first victim of the Persians. It passed on in unceasing succession through Greeks of all ranks till it came to Byzantine emperors and Roman bishops. Two popes, to whom Rome owed the deepest debt of gratitude—to the one, for interceding with Attila; to the other, for turning away the wrath of the Saracens—were both called Leo, and it thus became a favourite on the papal throne, and was considered to allude to the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, which was therefore sculptured on St. Peter’s, in the time of the Medicean Leo X.
Yonge, History of Christian Names (1884), Part III, Chapter III (Names From Animals, Etc), Section I (The Lion) · Public domain (Project Gutenberg)
A little story to keep
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06 / Behind the facts
Review status: Source-reported — no editorial review recorded yet. Last data change 2026-10-15.
Fichier des prénoms — édition 2026 (naissances 1900 à 2025), fichier national
Insee (Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques) · LO-2.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14
Switzerland — published first names of newborns, 2000–2025
Federal Statistical Office (FSO), Switzerland · opendata.swiss OPEN-BY (commercial and non-commercial reuse with source attribution) · retrieved 2026-10-15
Imiona nadawane dzieciom w Polsce — first given names of children, PESEL register, 2000-2025 (national)
Ministerstwo Cyfryzacji (Ministry of Digital Affairs), Poland — PESEL register; published on dane.gov.pl · CC0-1.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Berlin — published first-given-name registration counts, 2017–2023
BerlinOnline GmbH, based on Berlin LABO civil-registry data · CC-BY-3.0-DE · retrieved 2026-10-15
Belgium — published top 100 newborn first names, 2023–2025
Statbel (Statistics Belgium) · CC-BY-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Ireland — babies' first names with three or more occurrences, 1964–2025
Central Statistics Office (CSO), Ireland · CC-BY-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Ontario first baby names, 1913–2023 (verified redistribution)
Government of Ontario; redistributed by helloharun · OGL-ON-1.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Finland — first given names of living Finnish citizens in Finland or abroad, 2026-08-03
Digital and Population Data Services Agency (DVV), Finland · CC-BY-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Wiktionary text: CC BY-SA 4.0. Wikidata: CC0. Commons recordings retain their individual file licences. Complete attribution is available in each group above and alongside each chart.
