Lionel Boy
How popular is Lionel?
#659 boy name in 2025
419 baby boys were named Lionel in the US in 2025, making it the 659th most popular boy name.
Lionel popularity over time
Boys Girls
| Rank in 2025 | #659 for boys (▼ 97 from 2024) |
|---|---|
| Babies in 2025 | 419 boys |
| 10-year trend | Steady (+3% babies vs 2015) |
| Earlier ranks | #645 in 2015, #659 in 2020 |
| Peak year | 2023 (609 boys) |
| Highest rank | #295 in 1933 (2 years at that rank) |
| First recorded | 1880 |
| Boys vs girls (last 10 years) | 100% boys, 0% girls |
| Chance a classmate shares it | 0.3% in a class of 25 kids born in 2025 |
Lionel counting every spelling
Social Security counts each spelling as its own name. Adding together the spellings that sound alike, the Lionel family of names ranked #616 for boys in 2025 (#533 the year before), with 431 babies in all.
| Spelling | Boys in 2025 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Lionel | 419 | 97% |
| Lyonel | 5 | 1% |
| Lionell | 7 | 2% |
Spellings are grouped by how they sound, using our own rules, so a few groupings may not match how your family says the name.
Where Lionel is most popular
Babies named Lionel per 1,000 boys born in each state, 2021 to 2025. Darker means more common.
- Arizona: 0.6 per 1,000 (92 boys)
- California: 0.5 per 1,000 (496 boys)
- Nevada: 0.5 per 1,000 (30 boys)
- Texas: 0.5 per 1,000 (448 boys)
- Oregon: 0.4 per 1,000 (34 boys)
Lionel by decade
| Decade | Baby boys | Best rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 73 | #488 |
| 1890s | 176 | #419 |
| 1900s | 261 | #353 |
| 1910s | 1,726 | #314 |
| 1920s | 3,046 | #318 |
| 1930s | 2,915 | #295 |
| 1940s | 3,067 | #341 |
| 1950s | 3,632 | #353 |
| 1960s | 3,466 | #364 |
| 1970s | 2,426 | #486 |
| 1980s | 3,368 | #387 |
| 1990s | 1,704 | #663 |
| 2000s | 1,440 | #991 |
| 2010s | 3,674 | #583 |
| 2020s | 2,815 | #495 |
Boy names about as popular as Lionel
Questions
- Is Lionel a boy or girl name?
- Lionel is mostly a boy name. Over the last 10 years, 100% of babies named Lionel were boys.
- How popular is the name Lionel?
- 419 baby boys were named Lionel in the US in 2025, making it the 659th most popular boy name.
- When was Lionel most popular?
- Lionel peaked in 2023, when 609 boys were given the name. Its highest rank was #295, held for 2 years starting in 1933.
- How many people are named Lionel?
- 33,833 babies have been named Lionel in the US since 1880. We estimate about 22,315 of them are alive in 2026, with a median age of 42.
- Where is Lionel most popular?
- From 2021 to 2025, Lionel was most common in Arizona, at 0.6 of every 1,000 boys born there.
Source: Social Security Administration baby name data, 1880 to 2025 (names given to at least 5 babies of a sex in a year). Living-people and median-age figures are our estimates using US life tables. How we calculate.