Leonidas
Meaning
"son of the lion"
The story
Leonidas is Greek, the son of the lion, and it belongs to one king above all: the Spartan who stood at Thermopylae with three hundred and became the ancient world's shorthand for defiance. The American record kept it in double and triple digits for a century, about 26 to 180 a decade, then the modern turn: about 730 in the 2000s, and 4,500 in the 2010s, the decade after a stylized battle epic put the king on every screen; the record shows the timing, and timing is all a record can show. This decade holds 3,900 so far, closing on the full 2010s with years to run, and the record is absolute: about 10,300 boys and not one girl, ever. Leon and Leo, the lion's shorter roars, are giants here at about 182,600 and 260,000, both storied. The pass held; the name eventually got through.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Leonidas peaked in the 2020s.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
12,115 people · the #1,498 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 16,667 · median age 48
Among people named Leonidas living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1960s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 464 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Leonidas
Most people given the name Leonidas 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 Leonidas deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Leonidas 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 Leonidas fits with your family’s names and surname.
Keep exploring
Does Leonidas fit YOUR family?
nametree reads your family’s names and finds the ones that belong. Free, private, no ads.
Add Leonidas to your family’s tree →