The neighborhood is named for Carlos Leblon, a whaling empresario of French origin who possessed a chácara in the region since 1845.

The Quilombo of Leblon was a quilombo (settlement of escaped African slaves) that existed at the end of the 19th century in the present-day region of Clube Campestre da Guanabara and surroundings from what is now Rua Timothy Da Costa to Morro Dois Irmãos (in English "Two Brothers Hill") in Rio de Janeiro.

[3] The creator of the quilombo was the Portuguese José de Seixas Magalhães,[4] who dedicated himself to the manufacture and trade of suitcases.

As a token of gratitude, Seixas regularly supplied camellias to Isabel Palace, the princess’s residence in Laranjeiras (today, the seat of the government of the State of Rio de Janeiro).

In the north, it is bordered by Gávea and, in the west, by a towering hill called Dois Irmãos, which translates as "two brothers", because of its split peak.