Lia

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Leah in US United States, PH Philippines, GB United Kingdom and 6 more, לאה in IL Israel, PL Poland, LB Lebanon and 1 more, Ria in EG Egypt, MY Malaysia and Riya in IN India.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 20 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Lia is also recorded as 7 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Indonesian given name83K records spelled Lia14 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, Malaysia, United States, Spain

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay

  Also written 'Lia, Lia', Lía, Líā, Lîä

• Catalan given name10K records spelled Lia2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Spain

  Also written Lía

• Italian given name8.8K records spelled Lia13 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Italy, United States, Canada, United Kingdom

  Also written Lija, Lìą, Liå, Lìà, Lïâ

• Russian given name8.6K records spelled Lia156 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Russia, Croatia, Ukraine, Poland

  Languages: Russian, Croatian, Ukrainian

  Also written Лия, Lea, Лія, Лея, Лиа

• a separate given name6.1K records spelled Lia7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Italy, India

  Also written Lía, Liá, Li︠a︡, Liâ, Liä

• Romanian given name4.3K records spelled Lia14 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Moldova, Romania, United States, Italy

  Also written Lía, Líä, Liâ, Lìa, Liä

• English surname1.1K records spelled Lia50 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada

  Languages: English, Arabic, Lao

  Also written Leary, Lear, Lía, Leya, เลียะ

58 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Lia is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• Italian: of uncertain derivation, probably a short form of Rosalia (see Rosalie). Liadan & Anglicized form of the Irish Gaelic name Liadan, probably a derivative of liath ‘grey’. In Irish legend, Liadan forsook her lover Cuirithir in order to enter a nunnery; both of them died of grief.

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

• occupational name for someone who tied up vines, from French Hat, past participle of Her ‘to tie’.

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• habitational name from any of several farmsteads, so named from the definite singular form of Li 4.

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• In Portuguese, first/third-person singular imperfect indicative of ler

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Spanish, second-person singular voseo imperative of liar

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

EC INEC — Visualizador de Nombres y Apellidos, per-token query API (1900–2024) — 110 years between 1906–2024. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Corrie ten Boomb. 1892NLnot in their usual nameDutch resistance hero and writer
• Cornelia Boumanb. 1903NLnot in their usual nameDutch tennis player (1903-1998)
• Lia Manoliub. 1932RORomanian athletics competitor (1932-1998)
• Cox Habbemab. 1944NLnot in their usual nameDutch television actor, film actor, theatre director and actor (1944–2016)
• Cornelia Funkeb. 1958DEnot in their usual nameGerman author (born 1958)
• Cornelia Bargmannb. 1961USnot in their usual nameAmerican neurobiologist
• Lia Williamsb. 1964GBBritish actress
• Sandra Romainb. 1978ROnot in their usual nameRomanian pornographic actress
• Cornelia Jakobsb. 1992SEnot in their usual nameSwedish singer and songwriter (1992–)
• Lia McHughb. 2005USAmerican actress (born 2005)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 1,129 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Lia?

We estimate roughly 499 thousand people bear Lia (counting its spellings and scripts) across 10 countries in our records.

In which country does Lia have the most bearers?

Lia is most frequently recorded in Israel, where it is most often spelled לאה.

Where is Lia most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Lia is densest in Georgia — about 1 in 169 people — even though Israel holds more of our records for it.

How common is Lia compared with other names?

In Israel, Lia is the 18th most common given name of 97,862 given names recorded there.

Is Lia a male or female name?

Lia is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Lia mean?

Recorded meaning: Swahili: "to cry"; also Hebrew/Italian name meaning "dependence."