Lea
A surname usually linked to a meadow or to places named from meadowland.
The #3,863 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 33,632 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Lea is usually a locational surname from Old English leah, meaning a meadow, clearing, or open woodland pasture. It belongs to the same word family as Lee, Leigh, Legh, and similar spellings found in older records. In some cases it may simply mean “of the lea” or “from the meadow-place,” pointing to where the family lived.
History
Lower explicitly cross-references Lea to Lee, and Bardsley treats Lea/Lee/Leigh and related forms as variants of the same meadow word used in place-names and surnames. The name is therefore widespread rather than tied to one single origin point, with different branches likely arising independently from local place names. Because the spelling is short and simple, it has often overlapped with other surnames or with place-based bynames in records.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same Old English place-word behind Lea also helped produce many English place names ending in -ley or -leigh.
From the historical record
“LEA f^" LAW. A termination common to many surnames derived froni such locali- ties, as Gi'eeulaw, Fairlaw, AVhitelaw. For several names beginning with this syllable, see under Lau. L AWDAY. The more usual orthography of ' Loveday,' which see.”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom