Leia

Leia is the ancient Biblical Greek spelling of Leah (Λεια), a name borne from the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament as the elder sister of Rachel and the first wife of Jacob (Genesis 29:1-30). Her name means “languid, relaxed” in Hebrew. In the Bible, Jacob falls in love with Rachel, Leah’s younger (and more beautiful) sister; and so offers the girls’ father, Laban, seven years of servitude in exchange for Rachel’s hand in marriage. At the end of seven years, Laban tricks Jacob into marrying Leah first: “It is not our custom to give the younger before the firstborn” says Laban to Jacob in Genesis 29:26. Fortunately for Jacob, in those days it was perfectly acceptable for a man to have more than one wife so later on (after another seven years of servitude) he finally gets his prize by marrying Rachel, too. The only physical description of Leah/Leia we get from the Bible is in Genesis 29:17: “Leah’s eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance.” While the Bible contrasts the beautiful Rachel with the “weak eyed” Leah, the Lord blesses Leah with more children (which really bothered Rachel). The name Leah has been a popular choice in the Jewish naming tradition; she is seen as a symbol of a fruitful marriage building up the tribes of Israel. The Puritans adopted the name Leah during the Reformation and it has since become just as widespread among Christians. In the Bible, Leah played second-fiddle to her more beautiful sister Rachel so the Puritans liked the name for its humility and modesty. Leia was the spelling used by the ancient Greeks when they transcribed the Bible from Hebrew long ago. Aside from Leia’s connection to the Old Testament, the name is also notable from a pop-culture perspective, as in George Lucas’s Star Wars Trilogy heroine, the indomitable Princess Leia. Today the name Leia is most popular in the country of Sweden, but it is also used with occasional frequency in the United States and France.