Leroy
Meaning
“French, 'the king'”
The story
Leroy is French for the king, le roi, a surname in France long before it became a given name, and its life as a first name is largely an American story. It settled in early and stayed: strong through the whole first half of the twentieth century, at its best in the 1940s, familiar in every corner of the country and carried with particular pride in many Black American families. The decades since have been a long, gentle slope downward, the common fate of midcentury staples, though the 2010s and 2020s show a small but genuine tick upward, right on schedule for the hundred-year turn that keeps bringing old names back around. The meaning never dims, whatever the chart is doing: every Leroy is, by plain translation, royalty. Few names offer that much swagger in five letters, and fewer still come with a French accent built in.
Leroy in song
Bad, Bad Leroy Brown
Jim Croce (1973)
The self-styled toughest man in town finally picks the wrong fight, delivered with Jim Croce's grin audible in every line, and a two week number one in the summer of 1973.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Leroy peaked in the 1910s and the 1940s in nearly equal measure.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
59 people · the #59,447 first name in Brazil · median age 32
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Leroy
People given the name Leroy in the United States span the generations: the middle half were born anywhere from 1940 to 1989. Age is the one thing the name won't tell you.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Leroy deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Leroy 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 Leroy fits with your family’s names and surname.
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