Leland
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Meaning
place name/surname, "fallow land, meadow land"
The story
Leland comes from an English place name meaning fallow land. Its American record gives that image an unusual shape: a vintage crest of about 8,100 in the 1920s, when the university named for Leland Stanford was already established in the West, then a long decline to about 1,900 in the 1990s. The name rose again to about 8,400 in the 2010s, slightly above its earlier crest, and has 3,800 births so far this decade. The record totals about 57,800 boys and 550 girls. The two crests sit in the same series and can be compared directly. A place name crossed into personal use, rested for most of a century, and returned to roughly its old height on a second curve.
How popular is Leland around the world?
In the United States, 3,795 babies were named Leland between 2020 and 2025.
Leland is on the official records of the United States, Canada, Scotland, South Australia and England and Wales.
United States
1 in 5,700
In the United States, 3,795 babies were named Leland between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Leland peaked in the 2010s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Canada
1 in 11,000
In Canada, 32 boys named Leland were born in 2024, the 808th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
Scotland
1 in 15,000
In Scotland, 3 boys named Leland were registered in 2024, the 727th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Births registered in Scotland; different spellings count separately but accents are merged at source, and any spelling under 3 in total is suppressed. Source: National Records of Scotland, babies' first names
South Australia
1 in 18,0002017
In South Australia, 1 boy was registered as Leland in 2017.
The count never rose above 2 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
England and Wales
1 in 73,000
In England and Wales, 8 boys named Leland were born in 2025, ranked 2,664th among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
Austria
last on record 2014
Leland is not on the 2025 record for Austria, which publishes every first name down to a single birth, so the name was not given there that year.
The count never rose above 2 in a year, too few to chart.
Live births in Austria by year of birth, 1984–2025, from Statistik Austria’s first-name statistics; spellings that differ only by special characters are counted together (umlauts stay apart), every name down to a single birth is published, and the count covers babies with Austrian citizenship only until 2009, every baby from 2010, and from 2015 also births abroad to mothers living in Austria. Shares divide by Statistik Austria’s count of live births from 2010, and before that by the file’s own total for the year. Source: Statistik Austria - data.statistik.gv.at (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1, updated 2026-07-09)
Not on the record in Spain, Mexico City, Argentina, Puerto Rico, Ireland, New Zealand and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Montevideo record for 1940 to 2011: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
Keep exploring
The Leland deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Leland 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 Leland fits with your family’s names and surname.
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