 Lea is still a surviving surname in areas of southern and northern England.Lea has also existed in North America since 1608 with the arrival of the English immigrant William Lea (son of Nicholas Lea, Waterford County, Ireland [Englishman not Irish]) to what is now King and Queen County in the Virginia Colony.Leas were among some of the very first immigrants to come to North America from England in the 17th century, and historically hailed from the southern United States in places such as Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas.