Leah
Feminine · Hebrew roots · “Most often read as "weary”
Leah is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 256,488 girls against 466 boys since 1880.
Leah comes straight out of Genesis, where she is Laban's elder daughter, Jacob's first wife, and mother of six of the twelve tribes. The name traveled through Greek and Latin Bibles into English, and it has stayed short the whole way: two syllables, one soft consonant, nothing to trip over. Among the many bearers since, an Israeli poet of the twentieth century wrote under it in Hebrew, the language it started in.
How old is the name Leah?
Leah was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Leah alive today was born around 1998, making them about 27 years old. About 234,000 people named Leah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Leah most popular?
Leah peaked in 2010, reaching #24 nationally. Today it ranks #58, 34 places below that high. See the whole 2010 chart.
Where it comes from
From Lēʾāh (Hebrew) to Leah
The story of Leah
The name is Hebrew, first recorded in the book of Genesis, where Leah is married to Jacob before her sister Rachel and becomes the mother of Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun and Dinah. The Greek translators of the Hebrew Bible wrote her as Leia; the Latin Vulgate settled on Lia, which is why Italian, Spanish and Portuguese still use that form. English took the Hebrew spelling back directly, and Leah spread through Protestant households from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries onward, when biblical names were read aloud at home. It has been in continuous Jewish use across that whole span too, in Hebrew and in Yiddish-speaking Europe.
Meaningscholars disagree
Most often read as "weary"; also read as "wild cow"
The traditional reading ties Leah to the Hebrew root la'ah, "to be weary or worn out." Semitic scholars have long proposed instead a link to an Akkadian word for cow, which would pair neatly with her sister Rachel, whose name means "ewe." Both readings are seriously held, and neither has pushed the other out.
Cultural footprint
Leah Remini (b. 1970) — The King of Queens star
Leah Williamson (b. 1997) — Captained England to the Euro 2022 soccer title
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
How the name formed
- LēʾāhHebrew
- LeiaGreek Septuagint
- LiaLatin Vulgate
- LeahEnglish
Related forms: Léa · Lea · Lia · Lía · Le'ah · Liya
Pronouncing Leah
LEE-uh
LEE-uh is standard in American English. Elsewhere the same name is said LAY-ah — that is the usual Hebrew, German and French pronunciation — so expect a polite correction now and then when traveling or among speakers of those languages.
Nicknames for Leah
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 20106,545 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #24reached in 2010
- Change vs 2022
- −7.5%3,880 in 2025, from 4,196
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Leah in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Léa in French — same name
- Lea in German — same name
- Lia in Italian — same name
- Lía in Spanish — same name
- Le'ah in Hebrew — transliteration
- Liya in Russian — transliteration
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Texas. International figures from Statistics Canada. Sources
Leahs among us
people named Leah are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 414 born in 2025 was named Leah
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Phyllis test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Leah's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Phyllis climbed just as high around 1929, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Phyllis's path sketches the road Leah is walking now.
Leah is coming down from a big peak (#24 in 2010). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Leah is headed
Leah should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Leah beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Leah in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two syllables, all common sounds, and spelled the way most English speakers already know it from the Bible.
- Recognized across many languages with only a small adjustment: Léa in French, Lea in German, Lia in Italian and Spanish.
- Short enough to need no nickname, while still offering Lee and Lea if one is wanted.
- A documented record stretching from Genesis to the present, with no gap in use along the way.
- Lea, Lia, Léa and Leia are all live spellings of nearby names, so a fair number of people will need to be told which one you mean.
- The most common reading of the meaning is "weary," which some parents would rather not choose. The rival "wild cow" reading is not obviously more appealing.
- English speakers say LEE-uh, but much of the rest of the world says LAY-ah — worth knowing if the family is bilingual.
- It has been widely given in recent decades and is now easing back, so it will feel familiar to adults without crowding a classroom.
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What they receive
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Leah
Feminine · Hebrew roots · #58 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Leahs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 234,000 people named Leah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Leah in 2025?
- Leah ranks #58 among US girl names in 2025, with 3,880 babies given the name.
- How common is the name Leah?
- About 1 in every 414 US girls born in 2025 was named Leah — 3,880 in all.
- Will my child share the name Leah with classmates?
- Leah will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Leah
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Lillian#57 · Adeline#59 · Leilani#60 · Hannah#56 · Sophie#55 · Iris#61 · Maya#62 · Victoria#54
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Leah? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Leah and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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