Leslie

The name derives from the Scottish lands of Leslie in Aberdeenshire, likely originating from a Celtic phrase for a garden of holly. It took hold as a clan surname in the twelfth century when an allied nobleman was granted the Scottish barony. American parents adopted it in the late nineteenth century primarily for sons, though by the 1940s it had quietly migrated to daughters.

A Leslie tends to be pictured carrying a canvas tote bag and a stainless-steel travel mug. The name reads as calm and administratively sound, splitting its living ranks between thirty-one percent Baby Boomers and twenty-eight percent Generation X. With the average bearer now fifty-one, it belongs to the cohort that remembers rewinding cassette tapes with a pencil. On an office door, it offers no hint whether to expect a necktie or a scarf.