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I like Lea. I like the simplicity of it, and I think it's prettier than Leah. I do, however, feel that confusion with Leah is unavoidable- she'll be spelling her name for people her whole life. And I also think some might see it written and pronounce it as "Lay-a."

It's my name. I don't have a really strong opinion on it, but I like that it's not too frilly or common. I never had to go by Lea M. in school. It does tend to confuse people, though. People usually spell it Leah or occasionally Lia. Most people pronounce it Lee-a (which is how I pronounce it), but sometimes I get Lay-a or Lee. Overall it's not too bad, though. The only thing that's really confusing is that in one of the orchestras I'm in, there's a Leah who pronounces it Lay-a, and people get us mixed up a lot, especially since we play the same instrument.

Well, I'd say it LAY-a, like Tea.
Yes it would cause some confusion, but it's not that big of a deal. I know a Leah prn. LAY-a, and people just get used to it. Some take longer than others but it's still not an obnoxiously counterintuitive spelling/prn.
The name doesn't appeal to me that much. It's nice, I guess.

Lea is pronounced the same as Leah in the US. In other countries, particularly France, you will find the pronunciation different because of accent marks.
My name is Leah and people often confuse it with Lee, Leigh, or Leia. I'm not bothered about the Leia association as it was a cute nickname my cousin gave me and in Hebrew the pronunciation sounds more like Leia than Leah. I don't, however, like it when people call me Lee or Leigh. It really bothers me because the phonetics just aren't there. Also, I really dislike those names. I think the possibility of being called Lee or Leigh goes up with the spelling Lea although I have no scientific studies for that. :)

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That being said, Lea is pretty.

This message was edited 7/11/2014, 8:56 PM

I love Leah, so how could I dislike Lea, since they sound alike (I presume)? But I far prefer the Leah spelling, and don't understand why anyone would use Lea rather than Leah. Yes, it would cause confusion. Another reason to use Leah.

I say if you're going for the Lee-a sound, just go ahead and use Leah; much simpler and makes more sense. I've heard Lea pronounced like Lee and as Leah, so yes, there is room for confusion.