Message: "Rare name, would like to know meaning"

Rare name, would like to know meaning

by Puzzled (guest)

10/22/2006, 5:31 PM

Hello, my middle name is Lerhea and the only other person I know who has that name is my mom, and that's her middle name too. All I know about it is that it has a french origin. Can anyone help? Thanks!

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- Cleveland Kent Evans (clevelandkentevans) +3

10/22/2006, 6:52 PM

That certainly doesn't look like a French name to me. How do you pronounce it? Do you know where your grandparents found it?

- Puzzled (guest) +2

10/22/2006, 7:21 PM

My grandma knew someone named that and she thought it was a pretty name. That's all I know about it. I've been told it was French, I'm not 100% sure. I've Googled it and I've found it spelled LeRhea, so that might be more of a clue. I pronounce it Le-RHEA. Hope that helps.

- Cleveland Kent Evans (clevelandkentevans) +1

10/22/2006, 8:03 PM

It's still not clear to me from how you wrote that how you are pronouncing it. Is it le-RAY or le-REE-uh?

There is a French surname Lerey which is a Norman French variation of LeRoy, which means "the king." I did find one reference to a James LeRhea who was an immigrant to Quebec, Canada, from the island of Jersey, which is just off the coast of France though it belongs to the United Kingdom. I would guess that as a surname LeRhea is an alternate spelling of Lerey that developed in North America.

However, as a given name it seems to me to be just as likely to be a modern invention putting Le- in front of the name Rhea. Such creations have occurred since the middle of the 19th century.

This message was edited 10/22/2006, 8:03 PM

- Puzzled (guest)

10/22/2006, 9:26 PM

Sorry, it's le-REE-uh, actually more like luh-REE-uh, it's hard for me to pronounce it in writing. Thanks for your help, too bad it's not one of those names that you can just look up. You've given me quite an insight though, so thanks for all your help! ^_^

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