Given name & surname

Leith

“from the broad river”

Leith is used as a given name and a surname. One interpretation is “from the broad river.”

Meaning & origin

What it means

One interpretation is “from the broad river.”

Where it comes from

Leith is a variant of Leitha. An origin associated with Leitha is Greek.

Explained through its name family

How it developed

From Proto-Brythonic *lleɨθ (“moist”).

Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The story

Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1916. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.

From dated birth records

Leith through the years

Babies since 1880
769
659 boys · 110 girls
Most popular year
2018
23 babies
2025
10
#7,998 for boys
2021–25 vs 2016–20
−17%
Easing
Boys Girls
051015192019401960198020002025Highest share 2018Boys 5.9Girls 0.0
Leith in U.S. Social Security birth records, 1916–2025, per million births of each sex. Years with fewer than five births for a sex are not published and appear as zero. Use the arrow keys to step through years.

By the numbers

In 2025, this name appeared in 10 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 7,998 among boys’ names. Average annual use for boys was 17.1% lower in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for boys was 23 in 2018. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 763 as a first name in 2020; 2,215 as a surname in 2020.

From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.

Leith’s family of names

Leith has a related form in Leitha. Leith has a related form in Leath. Leith has a related form in Leathan.

Walk Leith’s family in the name graph

LeithLeythLeithaLeathanLeithanLeathLeatheLeethanLiethLeitheLietheLeethLiethanLeethe

Inner ring: spellings · outer: nicknames and forms.

Hover or tab through the constellation to see how each name is related. Bigger dots are names more people in the U.S. share.

Nicknames & forms 12

Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.

Show 4 moreShow fewer

Spellings & scripts 1

The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.

People named Leith

Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.

Similar names

If you love Leith, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.

Gaelic · Nature

Calhoun

“from the narrow forest”

16Very rareSteady

>99% boys

Gaelic · Nature

Conway

“the hound of the plain; from the sacred river”

44UncommonRising fast

99% boys · 1% girls

Gaelic · Nature

Oren

“from the pine tree” · “a pale-skinned man”

45UncommonRising

99% boys · 1% girls

Greek · Nature

Kai

Kai is used in several naming traditions, with different explanations for the same spelling.

81CommonRising

93% boys · 7% girls

German · Nature

Locke

“man of the forest” · “from the fortress”

35RareSteady

>99% boys

Gaelic · Nature

Dalrymple

“field, meadow”

No U.S. birth series

>99% boys

Gaelic · Nature

Murdo

“from the sea”

No U.S. birth series

>99% boys

Irish · Nature

Carberry

“tree”

No U.S. birth series

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Sibling ideas

Names that share Leith’s feel without repeating its first letter or rhyming with it.

A brother for Leith

A sister for Leith