There are three origins of the name.
A form of the Hebrew name Leah, a short for the Greek name Penthesileia and the Hawaiian “lay ee ah”.
Leah was used in the Greek Old Testament and is probably derived from the Hebrew word “le’ah” which means weary.
As a short form of Penthesileia, it is associated with the Amazons.
Penthesileia, also Penthesilea, was the daughter of the god Ares and Otrera, Queen of the Amazons. She led her troops to the Trojan War, supporting King Priamos.
Penthesileia means “mourned by the people”, from the Greek words “πένθος”, penthos, meaning mourning, and “λαός”, laos, meaning people.
Leia is also a Hawaiian name, “lay ee ah”, meaning child of heaven.
Alternative forms of the name are: Lia, Lea, Leah, Leja.
The name appeared in the U.S.A. naming charts in 1978, after been used as the name of character Princess Leia Organa in George Lukas’s film “Star Wars”.