Lea vs Leatha
American parents have registered 34,468 Leas since 1880, against 6,023 Leathas. Lea is still ahead, with 321 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Lea Leatha
Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.
Who was ahead
Of the 146 years in which either name was published, Lea for 97 years and Leatha for 49 years. The lead changed hands 10 times.
Side by side
| Lea | Leatha | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 34,468 | 6,023 |
| Most in one year | 600 | 138 |
| Babies in 2025 | 321 | under 5 |
| Estimated living today | 30,000 | 2,100 |
| Median age today | 37 | 67 |
| Peak year | 1970 | 1916 |
| Best rank | 396th girls | 569th girls |
| Rank in 2025 | 848th | unranked |
| First recorded | 1880 | 1880 |
| Girls / boys | 33,848 / 620 | 6,023 / 0 |
A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.
Which name is older
Half of the Leathas alive today are over 67; half the Leas are over 37. That is 30 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Lea Hawaii (1.5×), California (1.5×), Florida (1.4×)
- Leatha Mississippi (9.5×), South Carolina (6.6×), North Carolina (4.1×)
How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Lea and Leatha.