Hanna or Lea

[Annaeve]

Which name do you like more? (They're equivalents of Hannah and Leah, different spelling due to my origin). I'm lost cause I really like Lea right now but for years I had thought I'd call my daughter Hanna so it feels like I'm betraying the name haha.

Hannah and Leah are both gorgeous. If you live in the UK then please include the H.

Why?

Hanna. Beautiful name.

That was our preferred girls name and with the same spelling. (We had a boy though this time)

Speaking as a Leah myself (guess I will be name-changing soon!), even with an H at the end of my name I still get called Lee sometimes. So I think Lea would be fine, but maybe I'm partial

I like both names but prefer Hanna (it's one of my choices too). I would know how to pronounce both correctly without the H! Why not use both?
Hanna Lea is pretty.
I also know someone named Hannelia!

Hanna

Hanna.

I prefer it without the 'h' on the end.

Hannah and Leah are two of my favourite girls' names. I have a slight preference for Leah. However, I strongly dislike unconventional spellings and if I saw the name Lea, I would definitely think it was pronounced Lee. Well, the word lea meaning 'meadow' is pronounced lee. Lea is also a district of south-east London.

My two sisters are Leah and Hannah!
So I couldn't possibly choose between them

It’s depressing how much people on here think everything needs to be Anglicised! For what it’s worth, the spellings Hanna and Lea are both commonly used in Wales (which is part of the UK, though you wouldn’t think it by some of the attitudes on this thread!)

Lovely names OP. I prefer Lea

I don't like Hannah with the h at the end, but Hanna looked unfinished. And I agree that it's dated.

I love Lea and actually think it looks better without the h. I assumed it was pronounced "leah" rather than "lee". Nothing against spelling it this way personally, but be prepared for a lot of misspellings and mispronunciations if you're living in England.

Anyway, regardless of the h's at the end, Lea wins for me.

One of these is my name and I love it but it is always spelt wrong! Everyone wants to put the h on the end. Also I could never get anything with my name on from shops as a child!

Thanks everyone for your input! I'm surprised it's so controversial to skip a silent "h" when so many people these days pick the most unusual, hard-to -pronounce names they can think of :D (we have a toddler too so I'm around lots of kids).

To me, it's not "changing a perfectly fine name" as these spellings have existed for at least as long as the English ones in other parts of the world (I think they are both Hebrew names originally?)

But I do appreciate everyone's views especially in terms of having to spell it or correct people, rather than just being anti them because they're not English. Thanks again!

I think the London district is Lee not Lea unless you mean a different place

I love Hanna and Leah but would have pronounced Lea as Lee. It was the name of my grandparents house, Lea Croft, with Lea being an old word for glade or meadow I’m English. Choosing to spell it to reflect your background is nice but it is likely to get mispronounced and misspelled.

I slightly prefer Hanna, they're both lovely classic names though. I've definitely met British Hannas though so wouldn't find the lack of a second h particularly disconcerting

I LOVE Hanna! With or without the second h. Not as keen Lea but don't dislike it.

I love Lea. It's a really pretty but strong name. People might mispronounce it occasionally, but the people who know her will pronounce it correctly.

Hanna rather than Lea. Think Lea will get mispronounced- it's not obvious if you mean Lee or Leah.

I'm a Leah with a sister Hannah. Great name taste OP like a PP, I have always had to correct the pronunciation of my name. It's very common to get Lee or Lay-ah like the star wars princess. So personally I wouldn't use Lea as the problem would be exacerbated. I think Hanna is much harder to mispronounce but if you're in England, it would have to spelled out every time. But you would avoid the "OMG, did you know that your name is a pallendrome" that my sister used to get all the time, particularly when her year group studied pallendromes in English!

They are both lovely names and spell them how you like. Some of the comments here are ridiculous.

Just put the H on ffs.

Leah you will always be correcting pronunciation.

Yes but op is living in London I think where an h here or there really won't matter. I mean they are not specifically 'English' names they're biblical/international

believe the Hanna spelling is fairly usual. I have certainly met one or two and even a Lea when I was a kid and I am no spring chicken.

Slight spelling variation really isn't an issue .

Love Hanna, my friend is spelled like that and she loves it, she doesn’t get confused with other Hannah’s with the same name, there were three Hannah’s in the class, on work she could just put Hanna but they had to put initials. There’s noting wrong with that spelling (coming from someone with a name spelt the non-traditional way who also loves it)

I like Hanna,but I'm biased as I have one(with a h) and there hasn't been another in either nursery,primary or secondary so far so not too popular

Love Lea!!!