Lee
Lee is ranked 714th among boys in 2024 (370 births). Its best rank was 39th, in 1900.
- Rank in 2024
- #714down 8 from 2023
- Births in 2024
- 3700.02% of boys
- Peak year
- 19513,682 births
- Best rank
- #39in 1900
- Since 1880
- 295,534people given the name
The story in the numbers
233,256 boys have been named Lee in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1951, with 3,682 births — 0.20% of all boys recorded that year.
The name has all but left use: 370 births in 2024, against 3,682 at the peak.
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1952, and the 1950s alone account for 15%. It has spent 145 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 76 of them in the top 100.
Lee is used for both sexes: 21% of its bearers are girls (62,278), most of them born around 1956.
Rank among boys, year by year
By decade
| Decade | boys named Lee | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 3,945 | |
| 1890s | 4,384 | |
| 1900s | 5,158 | |
| 1910s | 15,380 | |
| 1920s | 23,556 | |
| 1930s | 23,954 | |
| 1940s | 30,978 | |
| 1950s | 35,826 | |
| 1960s | 30,198 | |
| 1970s | 21,549 | |
| 1980s | 19,787 | |
| 1990s | 9,011 | |
| 2000s | 4,161 | |
| 2010s | 3,556 | |
| 2020s | 1,813 |
In 1951, its biggest year
Lee was the 92nd most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1951 were James, Robert, John, Michael and David. See all of 1951.
Names that rose and fell with Lee
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Shermanpeak 1950
- Johnpeak 1947
- Williampeak 1947
- Edwardpeak 1924
- Roypeak 1947
- Frederickpeak 1951
- Williamspeak 1950
- Joepeak 1936
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.