Leslie
A Scottish surname most often linked to the place-name Leslie in Aberdeenshire, though older tradition tied it to a nobleman said to have come from Hungary.
The #1,417 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 12,311 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Leslie is usually treated as a locational surname from the Scottish place of Leslie in Aberdeenshire. The place-name is generally connected with the older Gaelic or British landscape element for a meadow or field, though 19th-century writers sometimes repeated a more elaborate story deriving it from a Hungarian noble family and a castle called Leslyn. That Hungarian origin was already being questioned in the older literature and is now regarded as legendary rather than secure.
History
The surname became associated with one of the major Scottish noble families, later holding peerages and lands in northeastern Scotland. Early writers preserved a romantic tradition that the family came north with Queen Margaret in the 11th century, but even in the 19th century some correspondents disputed that account. In later usage Leslie spread well beyond Scotland, especially through migration to Ireland, North America, and the wider English-speaking world.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The 19th-century sources preserve both the family’s proud Hungarian origin story and a skeptical rebuttal of it, making Leslie a good example of how surname lore can outgrow the evidence.
From the historical record
“florid complexion. 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 dis- trict of Garioch, in Aberdeensliire, in the reign of AVilliam the Lion. He took the 2 c A parish in Nottingham-”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom