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There are approximately 11,051 people named Leslie in the UK. That makes it the 943rd most common surname overall. Out of every million people in the UK, approximately 175 are named Leslie.

Region of origin

British Isles

Country of origin

Scotland

Language of origin

Gaelic

Religion of origin

Christian

Classification

Celtic


Related and similar surnames

Lesslie
Laslie
Lasley
Leislie
Leaslie
Laeslie
Leeslie
Leesslie
Laislie
Lasslie
Lasli
Leasley
Leisley
Leesley
Lesalie
Leselie
Laesley
Leisl
Leasly
Leisly
Lehsl
Lesali
Leissly

The Leslie surname in historical dictionaries

An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names (1857)

This family, according to tradition, descended from Bartholomew de Leslyn, a noble Hungarian, who came to Scotland with Queen Margaret, about the year 1067. He was the son of Walter de Leslyn, who had assumed this surname from the castle of Leslyn, in Hungary, where he was born. Bartholomew being in great favor with Malcom Canmore, obtained from that prince grants of several lands in Aberdeenshire, which it is said he called Leslyn, after his own surname. Malcom de Leslyn, who succeeded him, was the progenitor of all the Leslies in Scotland. Robert Verstegan, in his Antiquities, remarks on the word ley: "A combat having taken place in Scotland between a noble of the family of Leslie and a foreign knight, in which the Scot was victorious, the following lines in memory of the deed, and the place where it happened, are still extant: "Between the Less-Ley and the Mair, He slew the knight and left him there." The name may be derived from Lesslo, a maritime territory in Denmark.

Arthur, William (1857) An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names. New York: Sheldon, Blakeman. Public Domain.

Patronymica Britannica (1860)

LESLIE. "The family ofLeslie, to which belong two Scottish peerages, trace their origin to Bartholomew, a Flemish chief, who settled with liis followers in the district of Garioch, in Aberdeensliire, in the reign of AVilliam the Lion. He took the 2 c

Lower, Mark A (1860) Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom. London: J.R. Smith. Public Domain.

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