girl’s name
Leah in Chinese
莉娅
lì yà
Leah is usually written 莉娅 in Chinese, pronounced lì yà. It is a transliteration: the characters are chosen to sound like Leah, not for their meaning.
Character by character
| Character | Pinyin | Tone | Meaning | Traditional |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 莉 | lì | fourth (falling) tone | white jasmine | 莉 |
| 娅 | yà | fourth (falling) tone | mutual term of address used by sons-in-law | 娅 |
Readings and meanings come from the Unicode Han Database (Unihan). In a transliterated name, the meanings of the characters are not read as a sentence.
Questions about Leah in Chinese
How do you write Leah in Chinese?
Leah is usually written 莉娅 in Chinese, pronounced lì yà. It is a transliteration: the characters are chosen to sound like Leah, not for their meaning.
How do you pronounce 莉娅?
莉娅 is pronounced lì yà: lì in the fourth (falling) tone and yà in the fourth (falling) tone.
How do you write Leah in traditional Chinese?
The same way: 莉娅 uses no simplified characters, so it is also written 莉娅 in Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Is 莉娅 a real Chinese name?
It is the usual way Chinese newspapers and books write the foreign name Leah, so Chinese readers will recognise it as a foreign name. If you would like a name that looks Chinese, our free generator also suggests names chosen for their meaning.
How do Chinese transliterations work? Read how we choose your Chinese name.