Lea surname: meaning, census count and records | FamilyCrests

The Lea surname

In the 2010 U.S. Census, 9,180 people carried this name — #3,863 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 32,200 people counted. That is down 4% from 9,597 in 2000.

See Lea on the map Look up another surname

Share

What the name means

The meaning of the Lea surname

An English surname from Middle English, a variant of Lee.

From Old English lēa, the dative case of lēah (“meadow”).

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary (en.wiktionary.org) — entry «Lea» (English), by Wiktionary contributors · licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · excerpt, lightly adapted.

In France’s civil register

France’s register of deaths holds 214 people named Lea.

23 of them were born outside France. Those born in France came from 26 départements, most often Finistère.

Where it concentrates, on the map

Where they were born

Born outside France 23
Finistère 60
Alpes-Maritimes 55
Paris 10
Calvados 9
La Réunion 7
Var 6
Vosges 6
Ille-et-Vilaine 4

Fichier des personnes décédées, INSEE — Licence Ouverte 2.0 · deaths recorded in France since 1970, by place of birth.

In Argentina’s national register

At least 207 people named Lea live in Argentina.

RENAPER only publishes a name in a province when more than ten people there share it, so the real number is higher. Most of them live in Buenos Aires Province.

Where it concentrates, on the map

Where they live today

Buenos Aires Province 92
Tucumán 38
Jujuy 33
Santa Fe 17
City of Buenos Aires 15
Salta 12

RENAPER (National Registry of Persons, Argentina), surnames of residents by province, December 2021 — CC BY 4.0.

In the Nordic population registers

754 people named Lea is counted in Norway.

Norway publishes only surnames with 200 or more bearers.

Counted, by country

Norway (2025) 754

Statistics Norway (SSB, ssb.no), table 12891, 2025 — CC BY 4.0.

In print

Lea in American newspapers,
1868–1897.

Newspaper page from The Meridional carrying the name Lea
The Meridional 1883-07-14
Newspaper page from The Opelousas Courier carrying the name Lea
The Opelousas Courier 1868-06-06
Newspaper page from The Lafayette Advertiser carrying the name Lea
The Lafayette Advertiser 1897-12-04

Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 2,641,703 pages in all carry the name.

Who carried it

People named Lea,
with a public archive behind them.

  • Ada Alice Lea d. 1916
  • Mary Deely d. 1720
  • Adelaide Lea d. 1879
  • Linnie Lea d. 1896
  • Emma Lea d. 1870
  • Annie Lea d. 1886

Wikidata (CC0) · 10 lives in all are documented under this name.

Nearby in the index

Surnames next to Lea.

When the index is not enough

This page says where Lea is.
A volume says what happened to it.

Every page in the index is free and stays free. The Heritage Volume is the long form: the full paper trail, the arms, the crossing — bound, and yours.

See what a volume holds
Scroll to Top