girl's name
Léonie
lay-oh-NEE
- Origin French
- Gender Girl
- Letters 6
- Popularity Top 100 (France)
- Births on record 81,734
France
#25
2025 births
Léonie is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "lioness," the French feminine of Leon. It ranks twenty-fifth in France and belongs to the same nineteenth-century revival that has brought Adèle, Jeanne and Victoire back into common use.
- Léonie is a name of French origin.
- Peaked in France in 2011, when 1,880 babies were given the name.
- It has been rising over the past decade in France.
- Today about 1 in 379 babies in France is given this name.
- First appears in birth records in 1900.
Léonie over time
Births per decade in France, 1900s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1900s | 14,460 |
| 1910s | 8,295 |
| 1920s | 5,460 |
| 1930s | 2,120 |
| 1940s | 650 |
| 1950s | 300 |
| 1960s | 145 |
| 1970s | 230 |
| 1980s | 745 |
| 1990s | 2,415 |
| 2000s | 9,695 |
| 2010s | 17,575 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 9,490 |
What Léonie means
Léonie means lioness. It is the French feminine of Leon, from the Latin leo, a lion, so it describes the animal directly rather than a quality associated with it.
Where Léonie comes from
Léonie descends from the Latin Leonia, the feminine of Leonius, itself from leo, lion. The masculine Leon was borne by thirteen popes and by several Byzantine emperors, and the feminine developed in French alongside Léontine and Léa. Saint Leonie is not a major figure, and the name's standing rests on fashion rather than devotion: it was very common in France in the second half of the nineteenth century, faded almost entirely through the twentieth, and returned from the 1990s as part of a broad revival of grandmother names. The acute accent marks the first e as a distinct sound, giving three syllables.
Léonie in use
Léonie ranks twenty-fifth in France, and it belongs to a clear pattern in our French data: Adèle, Jeanne, Victoire, Louise and Léonie are all nineteenth-century names now back in the top twenty-five together. That kind of clustered revival is visible in the series in a way it is not in any single name, and it distinguishes the current French top twenty-five from the American one, where the equivalent names have not returned in the same numbers.
How popular is Léonie?
In 2025, Léonie was given to 1,555 babies in France, ranking #25 that year. It is one of the most popular names in France.
Where Léonie is used
French counts are rounded to the nearest five and nothing below five is published, so these figures show the shape of the name's use rather than an exact tally. Data & sources.
How Léonie is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Leonie | Leonie is a spelling of Léonie, used in Canada, where it ranks #110. | 12,824 |
Names that peaked alongside Léonie
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Léonie also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Léonie over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
1 nickname for Léonie
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Léonie in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Léonie
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Léonie — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Léonie
What does the name Léonie mean?
Léonie means "lioness," from the Latin leo, a lion.
How do you pronounce Léonie?
lay-oh-NEE, three syllables. The acute accent marks the first e as sounded.
Is Léonie an old name?
Very. It was common in France in the later nineteenth century, faded through the twentieth, and returned from the 1990s.
What is the masculine form?
Leon, from the same Latin root.
Is Léonie a girl's or a boy's name?
Léonie is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
When was Léonie most popular?
Léonie peaked in 2011, when 1,880 babies were given the name. It has been rising over the past decade.
What are the nicknames for Léonie?
Léonie is usually shortened to Léa.
Is Léonie a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Léonie currently ranks #25 in France. It has been rising over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.