girl's name
Leila
LAY-luh
- Origin Arabic
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 5
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 98,290
the United States
#259
2025 births
Leila means night, from Arabic, and it is one of the most evenly spread names on this site — France 211th, the United States 259th, England and Wales 269th, Scotland 282nd and Ireland 339th, a spread of just 128 places.
- Leila is a name of Arabic origin.
- Peaked in 2010, when 1,509 babies were given the name.
- Its usage has held steady over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 2,779 babies in the United States is given this name.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Leila over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1880s 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 |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 1,079 |
| 1890s | 1,588 |
| 1900s | 1,529 |
| 1910s | 2,830 |
| 1920s | 3,340 |
| 1930s | 2,473 |
| 1940s | 1,858 |
| 1950s | 1,740 |
| 1960s | 1,578 |
| 1970s | 1,624 |
| 1980s | 2,106 |
| 1990s | 2,177 |
| 2000s | 9,904 |
| 2010s | 13,919 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 7,702 |
What Leila means
Leila means night, or dark beauty. The Arabic layla names the night itself, and the sense of dark-haired beauty is an extension of it rather than a separate meaning.
Where Leila comes from
Leila is the Arabic layla, night. The story that carries it is Layla and Majnun, a seventh-century tale of a poet driven mad by love, retold by Nizami in the twelfth century and treated across the Islamic world roughly as Romeo and Juliet is in Europe — Eric Clapton's Layla takes its title from it directly. Byron used the spelling Leila twice, which brought it into English. The name is unrelated to the Hebrew Lilith despite the resemblance.
Leila in use
Leila peaked in the United States in 2010, when 1,509 babies were registered, and our data marks it stable rather than falling. It charts in six of the seven markets we track and remarkably evenly — 211th in France on 390 births, 257th in Canada, 259th in the United States on 1,193, 269th in England and Wales on 171, 282nd in Scotland on 13 and 339th in Ireland on 12. A spread of 128 places across six countries is among the tightest we record.
How popular is Leila?
In 2025, Leila was given to 1,193 babies in the United States, ranking #259 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Leila 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 Leila is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Leïla | Leïla is Leila written with a diaeresis, used in France, where it ranks #211. | 7,840 |
| Léïla | Léïla is a rare spelling of Leila, written with an acute accent and recorded about 20 times, mostly in France. | 20 |
| Lëila | Lëila is a rare spelling of Leila, written with a diaeresis and recorded about 5 times, mostly in France. | 5 |
Names that peaked alongside Leila
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Leila also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Leila over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Leila 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 Leila
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Leila — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Leila
What does the name Leila mean?
Night — the Arabic layla.
Is Leila the same as Layla?
The same name; Layla is closer to the Arabic and Leila is the spelling Byron brought into English.
Is the Clapton song related?
Yes — it takes its title from Layla and Majnun, the classic Persian and Arabic love story.
Where is Leila used?
Five of our six markets, all inside 128 places of each other — one of the tightest spreads on this site.
How popular is the name Leila?
In 2025, Leila was given to 1,193 babies in the United States, ranking #259 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Is Leila a girl's or a boy's name?
Leila is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Leila?
Leila has 2 syllables.
When was Leila most popular?
Leila peaked in 2010, when 1,509 babies were given the name. Its usage has held steady over the past decade.
Is Leila a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Leila currently ranks #211 in the United States. Its usage has held steady over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.