The twelfth letter of the alphabet, “L” is right at the start of “life”, “love”, and “laughter”. All things your little boy is sure to bring into your world.
So, why not choose one of the many beautiful baby boy names that start with L for your new arrival?
We’ve taken inspiration from celebrities, literary characters, and different cultures to bring you 85 L names for boys. Let’s explore them.
In this article 📝
- What are the most popular L names for boys?
- What are unique boy names that start with L?
- What are some celebrity male names starting with L?
- Boy names that start with L from around the world
What are the most popular L names for boys?
Drum roll, please… The most popular L name for a boy in the US in 2020 was:
Liam
In fact, Liam was top of the list of top 10 boys’ names for 2020, according to data from the US’s Social Security Administration.
And one more L name made it into the top 10, too: Lucas
The most popular boy names with L from the 2010s
Looking back at the previous decade, L names made up about five percent of the top 200 names for boys. And guess what two of those names were? Liam and Lucas, of course! The other L names that made the list were:
- Logan
- Luke
- Landon
- Levi
- Leo
- Luis
- Leonardo
- Luca
The most popular boy names with L from the 1910s
Let’s take a trip in our time machine and travel back 100 years. Which male names starting with L were common back then? Well, it turns out that 14 of the 200 most popular male names in the 1910s began with an L. And, as you can see, the selection looks pretty different to the 2010s:
- Louis
- Lawrence
- Lloyd
- Lester
- Leroy
- Lewis
- Lee
- Leon
- Leslie
- Luther
- Lyle
- Lonnie
- Leland
But there is one L name that’s stood the test of time and appears in both lists: Leo!
What are unique boy names that start with L?
So, we’ve seen the most popular choices of boy names that start with L, but what about some quirkier ideas?
A great place to look is the world of literature and mythology. From Ladon to Lysander, here are some unusual options to consider:
Unique L boy names from literature and mythology
- Ladon: In Greek myth, the dragon that guards the golden apples in the Garden of the Hesperides.
- Laertes: Both the father of wily Greek hero Odysseus and a character in Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
- Lancelot: One of King Arthur’s Knights of the Round Table in Arthurian legend.
- Laomedon: A king of Troy in Greek mythology.
- Lazarus: A character from the New Testament, famous for being raised from the dead by Jesus.
- Leander: The lover of Hero in a tragic but very romantic tale from Greek mythology.
- Legend: A name that signals an exciting and heroic life ahead for your little boy.
- Legolas: The nimble-footed, valiant elf from Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.
- Lemuel: Lemuel Gulliver is the hero of the classic novel Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift.
- Lennox: One of the Scottish lords in Shakespeare’s tragic play Macbeth.
- Leonato: And for something a little lighter: Leonato is a character in Shakespeare’s witty comedy Much Ado About Nothing.
- Leucippus: In Greek mythology, the mortal lover of water nymph Daphne.
- Lorien: A shortened form of Lothlórien, the forest realm of the elves in The Lord of the Rings.
- Lucentio: A character from The Taming of the Shrew, the comic play by Shakespeare.
- Lucius: Originally from the Latin, meaning “light”, the name Lucius has been given to characters in a host of works of literature, from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar to JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series.
- Lysander: One of the lovers lost in a magical forest in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
What are some celebrity male names starting with L?
Famous men from past and present can provide a great source of inspiration for boy names that start with the letter L. Let’s take a look:
- Landry: For Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry (plus a seventh-century bishop of Paris).
- LeBron: After NBA star LeBron James.
- Ledger: Inspired by the late great Heath Ledger, the Australian actor.
- Lennon: After John Lennon, from the groundbreaking English rock band The Beatles.
- Leonidas: The name of a renowned Spartan warrior king in the fifth century BC.
- Lionel: Famous Lionels include an Australian boxer, an Argentine soccer player, and a Sri Lankan musician.
- Lonzo: After Lonzo Ball, the basketball player.
- Lorenzo: For Lorenzo de’ Medici, a statesman, and patron of the arts in Renaissance Italy.
- Lucian: An ancient Greek writer.
- Lucretius: A Roman poet and philosopher.
Boy names that start with L from around the world
Finally, here are 36 more baby boy names that start with L, inspired by cultures and languages from across the globe (and we’ve included their meanings, too):
- Laasak: Indian, “peacock”.
- Lachlan: Scottish, “from the fjord-land”.
- Laith: Arabic, “wise”.
- Lalit: Indian, “beautiful”.
- Lane: English, “a narrow country road”.
- Lashkar: Arabic, “soldier or army”.
- Lawson: English, “son of Lawrence”.
- Leandro: A Spanish, Portuguese, or Italian variant of “Leander,” meaning “lion man”.
- Lei: Chinese, “thunderous”.
- Leif: Scandinavian, “heir or descendant”.
- Lernik: Armenian, “small mountain”.
- Li: Chinese, “strength”.
- Lincoln: English, “town by the pool”.
- Liu: Chinese, “willow tree”.
- Liulfr: Old Norse, “wolf”.
- Liviu: Romanian, from the Latin name “Livius,” meaning “envious”.
- Ljuba: Serbian, “love”.
- Llewellyn: Welsh, “like a lion”.
- Lochlan: A spelling variation of “Lachlan”.
- Lodewijk: Dutch, “famous warrior”.
- Lodur: From the name of a god in Norse mythology.
- Loek: Dutch, from the Latin name “Lucas,” meaning “man” from Lucania.
- Loewy: From a surname of Swiss-German origin.
- Lollar: Irish, “one who mutters”.
- Lombardo: Italian, Spanish, or Portuguese, “man from Lombardy”.
- Lope: Spanish, “wolf”.
- Lothair: From the Old German, “famous warrior”.
- Loucan: From the Latin, “man from Lucania”.
- Loukanos: Greek, “man from Lucania”.
- Lubomierz: Slavic, “peace” and “love”.
- Luciano: Italian, “light”.
- Ludoslaw: Polish, “glorious people”.
- Lugh: After the Irish god, a warrior, and master craftsman.
- Lugus: Welsh, “shine”.
- Luka: A spelling variation of “Luca.”
- Lysandros: Greek, “liberator”, from the Latin name “Lysander”.
So, there you have it: 85 boy names that start with L. Happy choosing! And we wish you lots of love and laughter with your new little boy.
👶
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