Aleigha

Aleigha is following in the footsteps of the ϋber-trendy Aaliyah. It’s merely an Americanized respelling of the Arabic name Aliyya/Aliyah which is derived from “ali” meaning “sublime, exalted”. In the Hebrew language, to make an “aliyah” means to go up toward God, or more specifically, “to rise, ascend”. From this etymological perspective, aliyah refers to the journey of the Jewish people to the Promised Land. The name Aaliyah became trendy in America starting in the mid-1990s in honor of the talented pop-star Aaliyah Dana Haughton (known simply as Aaliyah). Variations of her name immediately began to appear on the charts, including Aleah, Alia, Aliya, Aliyah and more recently Aleigha. While all of these names are essentially pronounced exactly the same way, spelling variations like Aleah and Aleigha are further away from the original Arabic or Hebrew word and are therefore much more “American”.