Meaning & Origin
An English topographic surname from Middle English for someone who lived near a meadow (the Anglo-Saxon for meadow being ley or leag).
Lee is a boy's and girl's baby name of Old English origin, from the topographic surname for someone who lived near a meadow or woodland clearing — from Old English lēah ("clearing, meadow"). It has functioned as both a given name and a popular middle name in the English-speaking world for over a century.
Lee was in the U.S. top 50 boys' names through the 1950s and 1960s. General Robert E. Lee and Bruce Lee represent radically different aspects of American and martial culture, while Lee Harvey Oswald gives the name one of history's darker associations. As a middle name, Lee remains a classic American choice that works across genders.