Leandro
Meaning
lion-man; the mythic hero who swam the Hellespont nightly to reach his love Hero
The story
Leandro carries one of the oldest love stories in the world: the Greek Leander swam the Hellespont every night to reach Hero, guided by her lamp, until a storm blew the light out and the sea took him. Spain, Portugal, Italy and Latin America kept his name alive as Leandro, and the American record shows nine decades of steady presence: between about 100 and 620 boys a decade from the 1910s through the 1990s, then the modern rise, 1,800 in the 2000s, 3,100 in the 2010s, and already 3,380 so far this decade. In our records it goes to boys about 11,100, without one recorded girl. The myth ends in the water; the name keeps swimming, and lately it is gaining on the far shore.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Leandro peaked in the 2010s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
Popularity in Brazil
471,532 people · the #50 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 431 · median age 34
Among people named Leandro living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1980s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 4,970 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Leandro
Most people given the name Leandro in the United States are children or teenagers today. The name belongs to this generation.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Leandro deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Leandro truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Leandro fits with your family’s names and surname.
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