girl's name
Aila
AY-lah
- Origin uncertain
- Gender Girl
- Letters 4
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 7,004
the United States
#831
2025 births
Aila is a girl's name used independently in Finnish, Scottish and Arabic naming, and the three have nothing to do with each other. It ranks 137th in Scotland and 831st in the United States.
- Aila is a name of uncertain origin.
- Peaked in 2021, when 378 babies were given the name.
- It has been rising over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 10,077 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1920.
Aila over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1920s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1920s | 6 |
| 1980s | 31 |
| 1990s | 61 |
| 2000s | 519 |
| 2010s | 1,576 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 2,075 |
What Aila means
Aila has no single meaning. The Finnish Aila is a form of Aile, from Helga, meaning holy; the Scottish reading treats it as a spelling of Isla or Ayla; and an Arabic Aila is glossed as noble or moonlight.
Where Aila comes from
Aila arrives from at least three directions. In Finland it is a form of Aili and Aile, which descend from the Old Norse Helga, meaning holy or blessed — and Aila is a well-established Finnish name of the twentieth century. In Scotland it functions largely as a respelling of Isla, the river and island name, or of the Turkish Ayla, meaning halo of the moon, which entered British use through migration. A third line gives an Arabic or Hebrew Aila, though the readings offered for those are inconsistent. The name's Scottish rise is recent enough that no single source explains it, and the honest position is that families choosing it are choosing a sound rather than a tradition.
Aila in use
Aila ranks 137th in Scotland with 33 births in 2024 and 831st in the United States with 329 births, and it is rising in our data with a peak in 2021. Our records carry it from 1920, though almost all volume is recent. It holds 577th in England and Wales. Isla, Ayla and Ailsa all appear separately in Scottish records and are frequently confused with it.
How popular is Aila?
In 2025, Aila was given to 329 babies in the United States, ranking #831 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Aila is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
How Aila is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Aïla | Aïla is Aila written with a diaeresis in France, and the spelling parents there overwhelmingly choose: it ranks #1,835 in France, against #7,118 for Aila. | 110 |
Names that peaked alongside Aila
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Aila also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Aila over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Aila in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Aila
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Aila — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Aila
What does the name Aila mean?
It depends on the tradition. Finnish makes it a form of Helga, holy; Scottish use treats it as a respelling of Isla or Ayla.
Is Aila the same as Isla?
In Scottish use it often functions as a respelling of it, though the two are counted separately.
Is Aila a Finnish name?
Yes, and a well-established one — from Aili and Aile, which descend from the Norse Helga.
How popular is Aila?
137th in Scotland and 831st in the United States.
Is Aila a girl's or a boy's name?
Aila is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
Is Aila a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Aila currently ranks #137 in the United States. It has been rising over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.