So a friend and I were talking names recently and it turns out he had never heard the name [name]Leah[/name] : D. Like, I mentioned the name and he was like “that is a name? I have never heard that before”. And I thought he was egging me on in a really weird way (but why would he?) and I talked about how it’s in the Bible and I’ve known tons of Leahs and he is a smart guy who is aware of lots of names, especially Biblical and Shakespearean ones like [name]Keturah[/name] and [name]Cordelia[/name], and how has he not heard [name]Leah[/name]? But somehow, somehow, no, this was the truth – no girl or woman named [name]Leah[/name] has ever crossed this man’s path to his memory. [name]Lee[/name]? Yes. [name]Hannah[/name]? Yes. [name]Rachel[/name]? Yes. [name]Leah[/name]? No.
So the next time you are worried that a top 30 name may be “too popular”, bear in mind that things like this happen : D.
Wow. As my first name is actually [name]Leah[/name], everyone I have met has met a [name]Leah[/name]. Though it was extremely rare when I was growing up. My high school, which had about 4,000 students, I only knew of one other [name]Leah[/name] (who wasn’t even in the same grade). Of course, when I went to cosmetology school (which had around 40 students) I was one of four. That being said, I have always disliked my name. No one seems to pronounce or spell it correctly. [name]Even[/name] when I write it down. I guess I don’t make the stick on the h high enough and I inevitably get called “lean” or “[name]Leann[/name]”. Although I do like [name]Leah[/name] more than the other option my parents thought of: [name]Tirzah[/name]. (And my grandmother wittingly suggested “[name]Joy[/name]” as a middle name: [name]Tirzah[/name] [name]Joy[/name] (tears of joy).)
We have a [name]Grace[/name], but we have yet to meet another [name]Grace[/name]. I was very surprised that she is the only one we know with that name, yet it’s such a popular name. Of course, people have butchered her name, as well. (Greece, [name]Grayce[/name], etc.) And our frontrunner for this little one (should it turn out to be a girl) is [name]Moira[/name]. Anyone I have told it to always says, “what?” Oh, well. We can’t please everyone…
I have always loved [name]Leah[/name]! I also really love the spelling [name]Lia[/name]. That is like never hearing [name]Rebecca[/name] or [name]Elizabeth[/name]. You sure he really wasn’t joking?
Several days later he is sticking to the story. I guess I believe it? We’re children of the late 70s / early 80s and [name]Leah[/name] was around top 100 mark through then and much of the 1990s, the upswing up even higher is fairly recent. I knew one in elementary school, then one in college, one in graduate school. So three across a life, I have actually known more people by several other names, but still 3 is a decent number. [name]Valerie[/name] was a nearby ranked name in 1980, I’ve actually never known any Valeries, though I know it is a name : D. And I know two little Valerias.
[name]Leah[/name], thanks for sharing your story. I wonder if this is a common problem - perhaps he met Leahs and remembered their names as [name]Lee[/name] or [name]Leeann[/name]? That is somewhat surprising that little [name]Grace[/name] gets the difficulties with her name but nothing should surprise me. [name]Jessica[/name] and [name]Jess[/name] (my name) are hard for people more often than you’d think : D.
I kind of like [name]Tirzah[/name] : D. Though I can understand not wanting it to be your own name. And [name]Tirzah[/name] [name]Joy[/name]…wel, that’s one for the ages.
I would get [name]Moira[/name]. But I am here on NB. : D. The name was used on an episode of House recently for a lovely character!
Maybe he just doesn’t know any Jews…[name]Leah[/name] is my daughter’s Hebrew name. Since her American initials are CL, we joked that we would call her [name]Chaya[/name] [name]Leah[/name] ([name]Hialeah[/name], the [name]Florida[/name] horseracing track)…We didn’t, she’s [name]Leah[/name] [name]Gabriella[/name].