[name]Leah[/name] seemed like it was on the way up so I was surprised to see it lose some ground. I’ll be very interested to see the state breakdowns on [name]Leah[/name]. Anyone have any insight on [name]Leah[/name]?
Well, I [name]LOVE[/name] [name]Leah[/name] and would seriously consider using it some day - it’s Biblical and also very classic, I think. However, I think it’s dropping because the Biblical girl names that have been favourites for years appear to be on their way out in favour of the cute, ‘trendy’ names. Along the lines of [name]Sarah[/name], [name]Rebecca[/name], [name]Rachel[/name], Hannah, these names have all been used for a long time and are now dropping in popularity and I think [name]Leah[/name] is just naturally following.
Girls naming trends have changed a lot compared to boys, where for boys classic Biblical names are still extremely popular and have been for decades. I think parents feel girl Biblical names are moreso “dated” in comparison to the popular girls naming trends of the recent years, ie. Aubrey, Chloe, Madison, etc.
This is just my take though. 
Yeah, agree with the above post - [name]Sarah[/name], [name]Rebecca[/name], [name]Rachel[/name], [name]Ruth[/name], [name]Mary[/name] and [name]Hannah[/name] all experienced drops this year in addition to [name]Leah[/name] - although [name]Naomi[/name] and [name]Esther[/name], both probably considered much more “unusual” Biblical names, made gains ([name]Naomi[/name]'s was very modest, just 2 spots).
That’s very interesting. I had not noticed what a tumble [name]Sarah[/name] had taken this year. I’m actually quite pleased to see [name]Leah[/name] down and dh and I have talked about it more seriously today than ever before.
I might have found the answer to my own question which I thought I’d share in case anyone else was interested. It seems that some of the [name]Aaliyah[/name], [name]Aleah[/name], [name]Aliyah[/name], et al names rose. Perhaps parents shifted away from [name]Leah[/name] to one of these.