'The Hidden Fortress' is based on a 1926 John Ford film '3 Bad Men,' in which the heroine is named: 'Lee Carleton.' Princess Leia and her name are directly derived from Lee Carleton. In the 1978 television program 'The Making of Star Wars,' Carrie Fisher pronounces the name LAY-uh and she is the motivation for the mis-pronunciation that is applied afterwards.įurthermore, the original 13-page treatment to Star Wars is strongly based off the 1958 Akira Kurosawa film 'The Hidden Fortress,' which is actually titled: 'Three Bad Men of the Hidden Fortress.' The Princess Leia character in the film is Princess Yuki whom Kurosawa modeled after the look of Elizabeth Taylor (the woman who stole Carrie Fisher's father from her mother). Half-way through 'The Empire Strikes Back' it is pronounced: LAY-uh and from then after. All through out 'Star Wars' and the first half of 'The Empire Strikes Back' it is Leia, and it is always credited in the titles as Leia. The definitive answer is that it's LEE-uh. I had the toys, fan magazines, T-shirts, memorized the movies lines, etc. I was there! I'm an original 10 year old Star Wars fan who was obsessed with the movie after seeing it in its original format (before it was called Episode IV: A New Hope) in the theaters five times in 1977. Therefore, it seems that George Lucas was already confusing Star Wars's fan base with disjointed continuity from the very start! We, original Star Wars fans, in the school yard thought it was a mistake in the TV voiceover's pronunciation but then her name was pronounced Lay-ah from Empire Strikes Back onwards.

The first pronunciation of Lay-ah, publicly, that I recall was on the first run of Kenner action figure toy releases, circa 1978, when the TV commercial voiceover pronounced it Lay-ah. Both Grand Moff Tarkin, and the Rebel alliance commander clearly pronounce Leia's name as Lee-ah. It was originally pronounced Lee-ah, not Lay-ah, in 1977's original release of Star Wars before all the director's cuts.

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