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Leon

Given only to boys, Leon has climbed back into steady use: more newborns carry it now than in the quieter years of the early 2000s. The root is Latin leo, the lion, and Polish keeps the animal audible in it.

Leon Pronunciation

Leon is pronounced LE-on (/ˈlɛɔn/).

Related names
Léo Lolek
Alive in 2025
63,966
Newborns 2025
5,079
National rank
#160
Next name day
10 November
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What Leon means

Where Leon comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.

Leon comes from Latin leo, leonis, the lion. The meaning sits right on the surface, which is rare. A Polish speaker hears it as lew, the animal on old city crests.

Popes carried it. Leon Wielki, Leo the Great, led the Church in the fifth century, and by one account he turned Attila back from Rome. The name came into Poland with the Church and settled as Leon.

There is a feminine variant, Leona, less common but built from the same root. On a school register Leon is easy to spot. It is short. The teacher reads it once and remembers the lion behind it.

Leon needs no decoration. The root is Latin leo, and the Polish ear keeps it as lew.

When Leon celebrates name day

Leon appears 19 times in the Polish name day calendar, 3 of them as a main name, the first on 20 February.

Next name day
10 November
Tuesday in 2026
Next one in 61 days
Name days

The days Polish calendars list this name on. By custom you celebrate one of them, usually the first after your birthday.

Also celebrates

Rarer dates. Only the most complete calendars add this name on these days. Most skip them, so hardly anyone celebrates then.

How many people are named Leon

1 in 334 men in Poland is named Leon. 63,966 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #160 among male names.

People with the name Leon 2019 → 2025
63,966 +25,890 since 2019
2020 40,279 +2,203
2021 44,880 +4,601
2022 49,643 +4,763
2023 54,651 +5,008
2024 59,414 +4,763
2025 63,966 +4,552

Leon's popularity over time

5,079 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #3 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2000.

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5,079 newborns with the name Leon in 2025
national rank #3 that year

Where Leon is most popular

Leon is most popular in West Pomeranian, 22% above the national average (1,636 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Greater Poland (+21%) and Lubusz (+16%). It is least common in Podlaskie and Lublin, 34% and 19% below average respectively.

More common than average Less common than average

Leon as a middle name

Leon is a first name for 63,966 men in Poland and a middle name for another 25,610, a 71/29 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 80th, between Bronisław (27,598) and Wacław (24,968).

As a first name
63,966
As a middle name
25,610
first name 71% middle name 29%
Middle-name ranking men

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Search the register, or step through the ranking one place at a time.

Next in ranking → Czesław #81