Etymology & Historical Origin of the Baby Name Leland

Leland is the transferred use of an English surname derived from a place name. It comes from the Middle English components “lay, ley” meaning ‘fallow’ and “land” meaning ‘land’. The surname would have developed to signify a person who dwelled near a patch of fallow land – which is inactive farm land recovering from previous agricultural use. As a personal name, Leland has mainly been used in the United States and was most notably borne by Leland Stanford (1824-1893), a prominent American industrialist, robber baron and founder of Stanford University.

All About the Baby Name – Leland

Personality

OF THE BOY NAME LELAND

The Three energy is powerful and enthusiastic. These personalities are cheerful, full of self-expression, and often quite emotional. They have an artistic flair and "gift-of-gab" that makes them natural entertainers. Their joyfulness bubbles over, and their infectious exuberance draws a crowd. The Three personality is like a child - forever young and full of delight. They are charming, witty, and generally happy people. The Three personality lives in the "now" and has a spontaneous nature. Threes seem to live with a bright and seemingly unbreakable aura that attracts others to them. In turn, they are deeply loyal and loving to their friends and family. Luck also has a tendency to favor number Threes.

Popularity

OF THE BOY NAME LELAND

The name Leland dates back to 1880 on the male naming charts (which is the farthest the charts go back). More than 100 years ago at the turn of the 20th century, Leland was a name of fairly moderate usage. As the decades progressed into the 1900s, however, Leland fell from favor. The name even disappeared from the charts altogether between 1999 and 2004. But wait. In the past few years, Leland has been experiencing a bit of a comeback. The name saw its most significant jump up the charts in 2006, the year popular actor Brendan Fraser named his son Leland Francis. The name also may have been influenced by Leland Chapman, the son of “Dog” the Bounty Hunter and a character on his popular reality TV show which started airing in 2004. Leland is a name that can’t help but to sound erudite given the namesake of Stanford University – which was incidentally built on ‘fallow land’ in Palo Alto, CA which is why the school is often referred to as “the farm”.

Quick Facts

ON LELAND

GENDER:

Boy

ORIGIN:

English

NUMBER OF SYLLABLES:

2

RANKING POPULARITY:

388

PRONUNCIATION:

LEE-land

SIMPLE MEANING:

Fallow land

Characteristics

OF LELAND

Communicative

Creative

Optimistic

Popular

Social

Dramatic

Happy

Cultural References to the Baby Name – Leland

Literary Characters

OF THE BABY NAME LELAND

We cannot find any significant literary characters by the name of Leland

Childrens Books

ON THE BABY NAME LELAND

We cannot find any childrens books with the first name Leland


Popular Songs

ON LELAND

We cannot find any popular or well-known songs with the name of Leland


Famous People

NAMED LELAND

Leland Stanford (founder of Stanford University)
Leland Bardwell (author)
Leland Chapman (bounty hunter)
Leland Orser (actor)
Leland Yee (politician)
Leland Mitchell (basketball player)

Children of Famous People

NAMED LELAND

We cannot find any children of famous people with the first name Leland

Historic Figures

WITH THE NAME LELAND

Born Amasa Leland Stanford in Albany County, New York in 1824, Leland was one of eight children raised on the family farm. He started out as a lawyer in Wisconsin and became active in politics. In 1952, however, California called. It was the time of the Gold Rush and bigger opportunities! Leland joined his brothers running a general store for miners in Placer County (shameless aside: the great-grandmother of the author of this paragraph sat on the lap of Leland Stanford as a young girl living in Placerville, CA in the mid-1800s). Eventually his wife joined him from Wisconsin, they moved to San Francisco and Leland went into the mercantile business on a much grander scale. Along with Crocker, Huntington and Hopkins, Stanford would become one of the “Big Four” investors in the Central Pacific Railroad (Theodore Judah was hired as their chief engineer who figured out how to get that sucker over the steep Sierra Nevadas). The first Transcontinental Railroad would make Stanford millions (equivalent to $1 billion in today’s dollars). Leland Stanford would also be elected to the governorship of the state of California. In 1885, Leland Stanford founded Leland Stanford Junior University as a memorial to his only child, Leland Stanford, Jr., who died as a teenager of typhoid in Italy in 1884 while on a trip to Europe. When Stanford University opened its doors in 1891, its first student was future president Herbert Hoover.