Leah (given name)

The meaning of the name “Leah” is different in several languages, countries and cultures and has more than one possibly same or different meanings available.^[1]

• American meaning: Tired or weary
• Celtic-Gaelic meaning: The light of the sun
• Hebrew meaning: Tired or weary
• Irish meaning: The light of the sun
• Assyrian meaning: Mistress, ruler
• Greek meaning: Glad tidings

The name is likely to have Hebrew origins from Biblical times. It has the meaning of “wearied” or “grieved”. Many speculate that this meaning has to do with the circumstance of the most commonly know woman named Leah in the Old Testament. She was the first wife of Jacob and the older sister of Rachel, but because he was tricked into marrying her she was unloved her whole life despite the fact that she gave birth to 7 sons and a daughter for him. Leah was called one of the four arch-mothers of the country of Israel.

Variants include:

• Lea – Croatian, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, German, Norwegian, Slovene, Swedish, Polish
• Léa – French
• Leah – English, Hebrew
• Leia – Koine Greek
• Lėja – Lithuanian
• Lia – Ecclesiastical Latin, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian
• Lía – Galician
• Lya
• Λεία (Lia) – Greek
• Liia – Estonian

Since 1880, the name Leah has never been outside of the top 500 baby girl name in the US. Its peak usage in the US was reached in 2010 when the name was ranked as the 24th most popular name for baby girls. Elsewhere it became a more popular name within the late 1990s and early 2000s. In the UK it was a top 50 name from 1996 until 2011, in Ireland it was a top 25 name from 2002 until 2014, and in Norway it was a top 100 name from 2003 through 2014. In 2014 the name ranked at 35th most popular in the US, 78th most popular in the UK, 27th most popular in Ireland, and 19th most popular in Norway.^[2]

Royalty

• Leah Isadora Behn, the second daughter of Princess Märtha Louise of Norway

Public figures

• Leah Manning (1886–1977), British activist and politician
• Leah Mosher, pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force
• Leah Rabin (1928–2000), wife of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin
• Leah Ward Sears (born 1955), American judge

Arts and sports

• Leah Applebaum, American voice actress
• Leah Ayres (born 1957), American actress
• Leah Baird (1883–1971), American actress
• Leah Betts (1977–1995), British water intoxication / ecstasy victim
• Leah Bracknell (born 1964), British actress
• Leah Cairns (born 1974), Canadian actress
• Leah Chase (born 1923), American chef
• Leah Clark, (born 1979), American voice actress affiliated with Funimation
• Leah Dizon (born 1986), American-born Japanese model and singer
• Leah Fortune (born 1990), Brazilian-American football (soccer) player
• Leah Goldberg (1911–1970), Israeli writer
• Leah Goldstein (born 1969), Israeli cyclist
• Lea Gottlieb (born 1918), Israeli fashion designer
• Leah Haywood (born 1976), Australian singer
• Leah Horowitz (born 1933), Israeli Olympic hurdler
• Leah Kaslar (born 1985), Australian rules footballer
• Leah Krinsky, American comedy writer
• Leah Laiman (born 1946), American writer
• Leah Miller (born 1981), Canadian actress
• Leah Moore (born 1978), British comic book writer
• Leah Neuberger (1915–1993), American table tennis player
• Leah Pells (born 1964), Canadian track and field athlete
• Leah Pinsent (born 1968), Canadian actress
• Leah Pipes (born 1988), American actress
• Leah Purcell (born 1970), Australian actress
• Leah Remini (born 1970), American actress
• Leah Rhodes (1902–1986), American costume designer
• Léa Seydoux, (born 1985), French actress
• Leah Song, American musician and activist
• Leah Van Dale (born 1987), American professional wrestler better known as Carmella
• Leah Williamson (born 1997), English footballer

Fictional characters

• Leah, in the radio series The Space Gypsy Adventures
• Leye (ashkenazic pronunciation), in the play The Dybbuk
• Leia Organa, from the Star Wars Saga
• Leah Brahms, in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation
• Leah Cain, niece of Deckard Cain, a character in Diablo III, who assists and accompanies players.
• Leah Clearwater, in the Twilight novels by Stephenie Meyer
• Leah Estrogen, in the 2001 film Osmosis Jones
• Leah Mordecai, title character of the 1856 novel by Belle K. Abbott
• Leah Patterson-Baker, in the Australian television series Home and Away
• Leah Rose, in the Left Behind novels by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins

References