Leslie

Meaning & origin

Leslie is a girl's name of English origin, traditionally used in Christian families. The name means "Garden of holly, grey fortress, from Scottish Gaelic leas (garden) + cuilinn (holly). A Scottish place name that became a cross-gender given name" and belongs to the Nature cluster — names drawn from the natural world — earth, water, sky.

Beyond its Christian heritage, Leslie is also used in Atheist traditions, reflecting how this name has traveled across cultures.

Common among British, American, European, Singaporean, HongKonger, Chinese, Taiwanese, Japanese families, Leslie carries cultural weight that goes beyond its dictionary definition — it's a name with a story and a community.

Numerology of Leslie

Numerology assigns each name a single-digit destiny number by summing its letter values. Different schools use different mappings — NameRoot computes both so you can see how Leslie resonates in either tradition.

How Leslie sounds

NameRoot scores the phonetic fit of every name against the sound of your last name. The pronunciation of Leslie breaks down into 5 phonemes: /L-EH-Z-L-IY/. In the app, you'll see how those sounds flow with your family name across rhythm, stress, and consonant clusters.

Nicknames

Common affectionate forms of Leslie — useful for everyday family conversation, early childhood, or as standalone given names themselves.

The six signals, applied to Leslie

NameRoot scores every name across six independent dimensions. Here's how Leslie maps to each — install the app to see the full compatibility score for your specific family.