Explore the Family Name Leavey

The meaning of Leavey

1. Irish: shortened form of Dunleavy. 2. English: from the Middle English personal name Lefwi, Old English Lēofwīg, composed of the elements lēof ‘dear’, ‘beloved’ + wīg ‘war’. Some characteristic forenames: Irish Brendan, Kieran.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Leavey in the United States?

Based on the data from the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname Leavey has experienced a slight decline between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, it ranked 41,320th in popularity with 497 individuals bearing the name, equating to approximately 0.18 per 100,000 people. However, by 2010, the rank had dropped to 44,270 and the count had decreased to 486, which is approximately 0.16 per 100,000 people. This represents a change of -7.14 in rank and a reduction of -2.21 in count.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#41,320	#44,270	-7.14%
Count	497	486	-2.21%
Proportion per 100k	0.18	0.16	-11.11%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Leavey

The ethnic identity associated with the surname Leavey also saw some shifts between 2000 and 2010 according to the Decennial U.S. Census data. A majority of those with this surname identified as White, representing 92.56% in 2000 and 92.39% in 2010, showing only a minimal decrease of -0.18. The percentage of those identifying as Hispanic and Black increased by 63.37 and 11.76 respectively, while the proportion of those identifying as Two or More Races decreased by 19.86. Notably, no individuals identified as American Indian and Alaskan Native, while the representation of Asian/Pacific Islander increased from 0 to 1.23.

	2000	2010	Change
White	92.56%	92.39%	-0.18%
Black	2.21%	2.47%	11.76%
Two or More Races	2.82%	2.26%	-19.86%
Hispanic	1.01%	1.65%	63.37%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	1.23%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%