Leeya
A variant of Leah, a feminine Hebrew name meaning "weary" or "tired."
Name Census estimates that about 518 living Americans carry the first name Leeya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Leeya today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Leeya births was 2009 (44 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Leeya. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Leeya with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
518
~ 1 in 661,688 Americans
Peak year
2009
44 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,666
Tracked since 1989
Census
Leeya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 474 people with the first name Leeya, which placed it at #21,431 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#21,431
National first-name rank
People counted
474
474 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
36.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Leeya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leeya is White at 36.9%. The next largest groups are Black (18.6%) and Hispanic (17.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Leeya described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Leeya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White36.9% · 175
- Black or African American18.6% · 88
- Hispanic or Latino17.3% · 82
- Asian and Pacific Islander14.1% · 67
- Two or more races11.8% · 56
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 6
Popularity
Leeya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Leeya from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 212 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Leeya by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Leeya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Leeyas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. New York, California, Texas recorded the most babies named Leeya, while Texas, California, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 11 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Leeya
The name Leeya is believed to have originated from the Sanskrit language, which is an ancient Indo-Aryan language that was predominantly used in the Indian subcontinent. The name Leeya is derived from the Sanskrit word "lila," which means "play" or "sport." It is thought to have been used as a name during the medieval period in India, although its exact origins are difficult to pinpoint.
One of the earliest recorded references to the name Leeya can be found in the Hindu scriptures known as the Puranas. These ancient texts, which date back to around the 4th century CE, mention a character named Leeya who was a devoted follower of Lord Krishna. However, it is unclear whether this character was a real historical figure or simply a symbolic representation.
In the 12th century, there was a famous Indian mystic and poet named Leeya who was known for her devotional songs and poems dedicated to Lord Shiva. She is considered one of the most renowned female saints in the Bhakti movement, which was a spiritual renaissance that swept across the Indian subcontinent during the medieval period.
Another notable figure with the name Leeya was a 16th-century Indian princess who ruled over the princely state of Dungarpur in present-day Rajasthan, India. Princess Leeya was known for her patronage of the arts and her efforts in promoting education and culture within her kingdom.
In the 19th century, there was an Indian freedom fighter and social reformer named Leeya Thakar who played a pivotal role in the struggle for India's independence from British rule. She was also a prominent advocate for women's rights and education, and her work inspired many other activists of her time.
More recently, in the 20th century, there was a renowned Indian classical dancer named Leeya Samson who was widely regarded as one of the greatest exponents of the Bharatanatyam dance form. Her performances and teachings helped to preserve and promote this ancient Indian dance tradition on a global scale.
People
Leeya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Leeya as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with L
Other first names starting with L with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Leeya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Leeya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 518 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Leeya going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 661,688 US residents.
Is Leeya a common name?
We classify Leeya as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 524 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Leeya most popular?
The single biggest year for Leeya was 2009, when 44 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Leeya is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Leeya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 474 people with the name Leeya, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #21,431 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Leeya in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Leeya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Leeya appears almost entirely female. Of the 467 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Leeya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leeya is White at 36.9%. The next largest groups are Black (18.6%) and Hispanic (17.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Leeya most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Leeya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 36.9% (175 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Leeya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Leeya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Leeya in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Leeya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Leeya in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Leeya can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people share the name Leeya?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.