Leanne

Meaning of Leanne

Leanne, an English feminine forename forged by fusing the Old English lēah, “clearing or meadow,” with Anne, the Anglicized form of the Hebrew ḥannah, “grace,” surfaced in American records during the inter-war years and gathered momentum in the post-1945 naming boom that favored streamlined compound constructions. Ascending to its historical zenith in the late 1950s—when it briefly penetrated the national Top 200—the name has since traced a controlled, decades-long decline, stabilizing in recent cohorts at roughly 70 – 90 annual registrations (rank ≈ 880). Pronounced in English as lee-AN, its two-syllable contour blends pastoral softness with a crisp terminal stress, a phonetic profile that has invited orthographic flexibility in forms such as Lee Ann, Leann, and Lianne. While lacking a single iconic bearer, the name filters through mid-century folk and country music, reinforcing its rustic etymology, and its balanced architecture—earthy Lee adjoining timeless Anne—continues to commend it to parents seeking a quiet equilibrium between vintage familiarity and contemporary brevity.