Cool Baby Names That Start with L

A Top 100 name from 1896 to 1921, Leona reached as high as Number 72. Since then, Leona had seemed to be one of the most unfashionable of the pride of lion names, but singer Leona Lewis has done a lot to rejuvenate it. Leona returned to the Top 1000 in 2009 after decades of being away.

The graceful, natural image of the verdant shade tree transcends any connection with President Johnson.

Luella is a sleeker version of the girls' name Louella that at this point is more popular than the original. Well-used in the 19th century, Luella fell off the Top 1000 in the 1950s, but has had a resurgence in recent years. Its use as a first or middle name by several edgy celebrities elevates Luella from crusty to cool, and it's stylish double-L sound and -ella ending make it a nicely revived vintage name for girls.

Lula has a firecracker personality, a singing and dancing extrovert. Interesting that Lulu was a Top 100 name when the Social Security list was born in 1880, but it's been sliding ever since and has not been in the Top 1000 for decades. Modern parents in love with Lulu might well reverse that trend.

For centuries this name was associated primarily with the towering figure of Italian Renaissance painter-scientist-inventor Leonardo da Vinci, and was scarcely used outside the Latin culture.

Lyrical, lively and bold, Leilani is a name that feels fresh, floral, and summery. Sharing sounds with the popular Lillian, Layla and Luna, Leilani is a fairly recent addition to the US Top 100.

Lars is a perfect candidate for a cross-cultural passport: it has been heard often enough here to sound familiar and friendly, yet retains the charisma of a charming foreigner.

Leila was popularized in the West by the poet Byron, who used it in his poem Don Juan for a ten-year-old Turkish girl. Leila also appears as a fairy in the Gilbert & Sullivan comic opera Iolanthe.

Straightforward single-syllable name, though children named Lyle may get tired of hearing "Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile". Lyle was at the height of fashion in the 1920s, which makes him due for a comeback right about now. The double L certainly gives it a fashionable sound.

Loyal is one of the few virtue names suitable for boys, an honorable and principled Boy Scout-esque appellation with a surprisingly long and distinguished history.

Leonie is a chic French and German form of a name that exists in a range of variations from Leona to Leonia to Leon to Leo to Lionel, all newly fashionable after a couple of generations in style limbo.

Lula is one of the livelier nickname-names with the fashionable double-L sound: It joins Lulu, Lila, Lily, and Lou among the trendiest names today. Lula might be short for Talula and sisters or for Lucy or Louise, or may stand on its own two adorable feet. Lula was actually a Top 50 name in the late 1880's and continued in the Top 100 for a couple of decades more.

Celebrated in song—the rock 'n' roll classic "Louie, Louie"—this is a gregarious, friendly spelling of Louis not often used as a full first name. It reentered the US Top 1000 in 2015. It's a highly popular choice in England and Wales.

The Hungarian classic Laszlo, with its zippy 'z' middle and energetic 'o' ending, has become something of a hipster option, beginning to be considered by cutting-edge parents.

The fame of actress and Aerosmith daughter Liv Tyler helped to infuse life into this short but solid Scandinavian name that was chosen for her daughter by Julianne Moore.

Lionel is one leonine name that hasn't taken off as cousins Leo and Leonardo have, though it did reenter the Top 1000 in 2010 after several years away; it was at its highest point in the 1920s and 1930s.

Leandro is the Portuguese, Italian, and Spanish variant of the English name Leander. A blend of two Latin words (Leo "lion" and Andro "man"), Leandro is a name that suggests its bearer has strength and power. Despite this very masculine meaning, Leandro also has a long romantic history, beginning with the myth of Hero and Leander (Ero et Leandro in Latin) to being an important figure in the history of the beautiful Spanish city of Seville.

Could Lilac be the next Lila or Lily or Violet? It certainly has a lot going for it--those lilting double 'l's, the fabulous fragrance it exudes, and the fact that it's a color name as well, providing a ready made nursery theme. In addition, the lilac is symbolic of first love.

Leonidas is an ancient name that has started rising again along with centuries-old names such as Augustus and Cato. The original Leonidas was the most famous of Sparta's warriors, sacrificing his life at the Battle of Thermopylae; there is also a saint Leonidas.

Lilou is a charming, rarely heard import. Occitan is a language spoken in Provence, in the south of France, in which the suffix "ou" denotes a pet form — thus, Lilou as a short form of Liliane or its Occitan form Liliana or Liliano. Its popularity in France--where it's currently Number 12--can be traced to the 1997 film The Fifth Element.