Leah

Variant English Pronunciation: LAY-ə.

Some say it lee-uh, some say it lay-uh. So to avoid pronunciation errors, spell it in a way that makes your desired pronunciation more clear: Lia and Leia.

My name is Leaha and it’s pronounced Lee-uh. People call me lee-ha and lay-ha. I’ve thought about changing it to Leah, but I like that it’s different. :)

My name is Leah and I pronounce it like Leya. The correct Hebrew pronunciation is (Lay-uh) and I can confirm it because I'm Israeli.

Huh. I also thought it was pronounced lay uh. I thought lee uh was Lia.

The Hebrew version is said Lay-ah. So can you add a Hebrew saying? Thanks.

I'm Jewish and I've always known this name to be pronounced LAY-ah, because that's the Hebrew pronunciation of the Biblical Leah. When I hear the pronunciation "LEE-ah," I always imagine the names Lia and Lea. One time my mom told me that LAY-ah is the Jewish pronunciation and LEE-ah is the non-Jewish pronunciation. Although, of course, non-Jewish LAYahs and Jewish LEEahs are very possible! I absolutely love this classic name!

My name is Leah (pronounced Lee-ah); however, on first meeting me people do tend to think it's pronounced Lee or Lay-ah. I've even had someone respond to an email I've sent them (where my name was all over it) spelling it as Leigh.

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On the nickname front, I have several but the one I was mostly called when I was younger was Lee-Lee, which eventually morphed into Lily which I get called now.

I know a girl whose name is spelt this way, yet it is pronounced as lay-uh. Something to consider.

A friend of mine pronounces it LAYah not LEEah which I've never heard before.

In addition to pronouncing like LEE-ah, many people also pronounce the name like LAY-ah, which is the traditional Hebrew pronunciation. (I know this because this is my sister's name, and we are Jewish.)

This is extremely frustrating to me, as a Jew, because I have always been taught that the pronunciation is Lay-ah. Also, the Hebrew on this very site is pronounced that way. To me, pronouncing it as Lee-ah is disrespectful to Jews and a blatant disregard for the Hebrew language. Personally, I am insulted. I am sorry if I hurt anyone with this comment I just needed to say these things.

My wife and I are Jewish and live in the U.S. We named our daughter Leah and we pronounce it "Lee-ah". We know of many other Jewish people that pronounce it "Lee-ah" as well. The traditional Hebrew pronunciation is similar to "Lay-ah", whereas the English pronunciation is more commonly "Lee-ah". Both pronunciations are perfectly acceptable. My wife and I personally preferred the pronunciation of "Lee-ah", especially since Leah is our daughter's first name, not her Hebrew name.

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Also, we asked an important Orthodox Rabbi about how we should spell the name, we told him we are pronouncing it "Lee-ah" and we were debating whether to spell it "Leah" or "Lea". He said it's very good to spell it "Leah" because the letter H in the Hebrew alphabet ("Hei") represents God.

The Hebrew pronunciation of this name is LAY-uh.

Leah is pronounced the way it is written: Lee-ah. Of course I'm sure some people prefer it pronounced Lay-ah (most likely derived from Star Wars' Leia) but generally speaking, it's not.

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I love this name, it's the name of my youngest cousin and she really suits it. I think it's a good name because it can suit a girly girl or a tomboy (I know one of each with this name).

The pronunciation LAY-uh is not at all derived from Star Wars! LAY-uh is the original Hebrew pronunciation, it is older then LEE-uh which is the Anglicized pronunciation. Leia is just a different spelling of Leah, with no etymological background I don't think.

Pronounced Lay-a.

I was told that the true Hebrew pronunciation of this name was not "LAY-ah", but instead "lay-AHH", with the emphasis on the latter syllable.

Listen to the German pronunciation of Leah here:
http://www.nordicnames.de/Aussprache.html.

The Hebrew pronunciation for this is LEH-AH.

I speak Hebrew as well, and the actual pronunciation of the original name IS lay-ah. I think it's a wonderful name, and I would name a daughter that if it weren't my mother's middle name.

I used to pronounce this name as "LEE", but now I know how crazy English phonetics are and how lovely that Leah is: "LEE-a", or, correctly, "LAY-a".

The Hebrew pronunciation is LAY-ah. It is my name, and I speak Hebrew. When you pronounce it LEE-a, you are using English phonology and applying it to a Hebrew name.

Leah is a sweet name but I prefer the French pronunciation: LAY-a.

Lay-ah is no French pronunciation. The French pronunciation is leh-ah.