Meaning and history
Leah comes from the Hebrew name לֵאָה (Leʾa), probably from לָאָה (laʾa), meaning “weary, grieved,” though it may also be related to the Akkadian littu, “cow.” In the Old Testament, Leah is Jacob’s first wife and the mother of seven of his children; Jacob preferred her younger sister Rachel, and Leah later gave him her handmaid Zilpah so he could have more children. The name was used by Jews in the Middle Ages but did not become common as an English Christian name until after the Protestant Reformation, when it was frequent among the Puritans.
20062006: 4,657 births, rank #68
2007: 4,555 births, rank #67
2008: 5,634 births, rank #40
2009: 6,790 births, rank #29
2010: 6,545 births, rank #24
20112011: 6,400 births, rank #29
2012: 5,781 births, rank #33
2013: 5,618 births, rank #32
2014: 5,610 births, rank #35
2015: 5,636 births, rank #36
20162016: 5,434 births, rank #37
2017: 5,202 births, rank #40
2018: 5,038 births, rank #41
2019: 4,780 births, rank #43
2020: 4,530 births, rank #45
20212021: 4,474 births, rank #46
2022: 4,196 births, rank #52
2023: 3,976 births, rank #53
2024: 3,988 births, rank #53
20252025: 3,880 births, rank #58
Leah has unusual staying power. It appears in the US records as early as 1880 and still ranks #58 for girls in 2025. Its highest annual birth count came in 2009, with 6,790 births.