Meaning and background
The story behind Leia
Leia has a life beyond cinema: it occurs in the Greek Old Testament and as a Portuguese form of the biblical name Leah. Most English speakers, however, will immediately recognise Princess Leia from Star Wars, first released in 1977. The film association and the older personal-name history can both be stated without pretending that every use has the same intention. In English it is generally pronounced LAY-uh.
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Everyday moments“Leia, come here!”
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About Leia
Recorded as a dog’s name
Leia appears in 76 dog licence records in the 2026 New York City dataset.
How to read this count
These records cover New York City and may count the same dog in more than one licence period. They are not a national popularity ranking.
Pronunciation and rhythm
/liɑ/
US English sound sequence, converted from the CMU dictionary. Stress marks are shown separately.
Stress on the first syllable in the recorded US readings.
View dictionary notation
/liɑ/ · primary stress on syllable 1L IY1 AA0
These are US dictionary readings. Personal, regional and other language pronunciations may differ.
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Sources and research notes (2)
Gender association: NYC licence-period records. Any dog can use this name.
- New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene NYC Dog Licensing Dataset — extract_year 2026 — Dog licence periods, not unique dogs; NYC only. No owner-level fields retrieved.
- Carnegie Mellon University / CMU Sphinx maintainers CMU US English Pronouncing Dictionary — US English dictionary readings; not owner-specific or exhaustive multilingual pronunciation
References support the individual facts shown. A source link does not mean the entire profile has been verified.