Variant spelling of Leslie, from a Scottish place name meaning 'garden of hollies.'
Leslee is a distinctive feminine variant of the Scottish surname-turned-given-name Leslie or Lesley, whose origins lie in a place name from the Scottish Lowlands. The toponym Leslie most likely derives from the Gaelic leas celyn, meaning "garden of hollies," though some scholars suggest an alternate reading of "grey fortress" from leas + ley. The Leslie clan was one of Scotland's prominent noble families from the twelfth century onward, and the name moved from clan identifier to personal name through the usual path of Scottish aristocratic surnames entering common usage as first names.
In English-speaking countries, Leslie was historically used for both boys and girls, though by the mid-twentieth century the spelling Lesley had become predominantly feminine in Britain, while Leslie remained more masculine or neutral in the United States. The -ee ending spelling, as in Leslee, belongs to a particularly American tradition of feminizing names through orthographic sweetening — the same impulse that produced Lynee, Bettye, and Bobbie — emphasizing softness and individuality through the doubling of the final vowel sound. Leslee peaked in American usage in the 1950s and 1960s, when it carried a fresh, modern quality that balanced independence with femininity.
Leslie Caron, the French actress and dancer who starred in An American in Paris and Gigi, gave the name a cultured, European shimmer during this period. Today Leslee reads as warmly vintage, carrying the comfortable confidence of a mid-century woman's name that never needed to shout its qualities aloud — it simply was what it was, with quiet assurance.