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Girl or boy · Old English
Lee
Say it: LEE
Meaning
From an English surname, Old English leah 'woodland clearing, meadow'.
Certainscholars agree on this meaning.
Used for boys in the US from the 1800s, particularly in the South, and for both sexes in the 1900s.
Its wave through time
Fading since the 1880s
In the United States
- 293,941 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 1882, about 1 in 266 boys
- 335 babies in 2020
Through the ages
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Leigh, Lea
Famous bearers
- Lee Marvin, American actor
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
- National census records of the 19th and 20th centuries
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.