How Many People Are Named Lief?
An estimated 259 people in the United States have the first name Lief. It is almost exclusively a male name. The average bearer is 40 years old, and Lief peaked in popularity in 1999 with 12 births that year.
Below you will find a full statistical profile of Lief as a first name in the United States, including gender data, a year-by-year popularity timeline going back to 1880, a decade breakdown, and state-by-state birth registrations. You can also check how many people share the full name Lief paired with any surname.
Estimated Living Americans
259
About 1 in 1,323,376 people in the U.S.
Rarity
Very Rare
Predicted Gender
Male
100.0% confidence
Average Age
40
years old
Peak Year
1999
12 births
Total Registered
279
since 1880
Gender Distribution for Lief
Lief is almost exclusively a male name. Out of 279 total births registered, 100.0% were male.
Lief as a male name
Ranked #7,547 in 2023
11 male births in 2023
Peak: 1999 (12 births)
Lief: Popularity Over Time
SSA records for Lief span from the 1940s to the 2020s, covering 9 decades of naming data. The most popular decade for this name was the 1970s, when 66 babies were registered. Lief has declined significantly from its peak in the 1970s. Recent registrations are a fraction of what they were at the name's height.
Lief by Decade
How has Lief tracked across different eras? The table below groups all SSA birth registrations into 10-year periods, with separate male and female counts. The colored bar shows each decade's share relative to the peak.
Lief + Last Name Combinations
How many people share a full name with Lief as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Names Similar to Lief
Other first names starting with L with a similar number of bearers.
Lief: Questions and Answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lief?
We estimate approximately 259 people named Lief are alive in the United States today. This is based on SSA birth records from 1880 to 2024, adjusted for mortality using CDC life tables. About 1 in 1,323,376 Americans share this first name.
Is Lief a common name?
Lief is classified as "Very Rare" and is more popular than 77.5% of all first names in the SSA database. A total of 279 births have been registered with this name since 1880.
When was Lief most popular?
Lief reached peak popularity in 1999, when 12 babies were given this name. The average age of a living person named Lief is approximately 40 years old, reflecting when the name was most commonly given.
Is Lief a male name?
Lief is predominantly male. 100.0% of people with this name are male. See the gender breakdown above for full details.
How many Lief Smiths are there?
To find how many people share a specific full name, we combine first name and surname frequencies. Try: Lief Smith, Lief Johnson, Lief Williams. You can also search any combination on our homepage.
Where does this data come from?
Our estimates use Social Security Administration birth records (1880 to 2024), adjusted for survival using CDC 2023 life tables broken down by sex. The U.S. population figure (342,754,338) is from the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate. Full methodology.
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