girl's name
Neyla
NAY-lah
- Origin Arabic
- Gender Girl
- Letters 5
- Popularity Uncommon
- Births on record 6,214
France
#167
2025 births
Neyla is a girl's name of Arabic origin meaning "one who attains," a French spelling of Naila that sits almost level with Nayla. It ranks 167th in France and is rising in our data.
- Neyla is a name of Arabic origin.
- Peaked in France in 2016, when 435 babies were given the name.
- It has been rising over the past decade in France.
- Today about 1 in 1,814 babies in France is given this name.
- First appears in birth records in 1978.
Neyla over time
Births per decade in France, 1970s 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 |
|---|---|
| 1970s | 5 |
| 1980s | 15 |
| 1990s | 30 |
| 2000s | 385 |
| 2010s | 3,055 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 2,075 |
What Neyla means
Neyla means one who attains or achieves, from the Arabic root nala, to obtain or reach. The sense is active — reaching what was sought — rather than being granted something.
Where Neyla comes from
Neyla is a French spelling of the Arabic Naila, from nala, to attain. The ey is a French orthographic choice with no Arabic basis, the same habit that produced Leyna from Lina and Meyssa from Maissa; Arabic itself has one name here and French registers have at least four spellings of it. Naila bint al-Farafisa was the wife of the caliph Uthman and, by tradition, lost fingers defending him when he was killed in 656 — she sent his bloodied shirt and her severed fingers to Damascus, and that act helped set off the first Islamic civil war. The name is used across the Arab world and in South Asia. The near-identical French ranks of Neyla at 167th and Nayla at 166th are a good illustration of how register counts by spelling rather than by name.
Neyla in use
Neyla ranks 167th in France with about 325 births in 2025 and is rising in our data with a peak in 2016. Our records carry it from 1978. It is rare elsewhere at 4,352nd in the United States and 5,930th in England and Wales. Nayla sits one place above it in France, and the two spellings together would rank far higher than either does alone.
How popular is Neyla?
In 2025, Neyla was given to 325 babies in France, ranking #167 that year. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.
Where Neyla is used
French counts are rounded to the nearest five and nothing below five is published, so these figures show the shape of the name's use rather than an exact tally. Data & sources.
How Neyla is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Nëyla | Nëyla is a rare spelling of Neyla, written with a diaeresis and recorded about 40 times, mostly in France. | 40 |
| Néyla | Néyla is a rare spelling of Neyla, written with an acute accent and recorded about 10 times, mostly in France. | 10 |
Names that peaked alongside Neyla
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Neyla also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Neyla over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Neyla 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.
- Other forms
- Forms we hold no single language for — some are used across several, some are simply spelled differently.
- Nailah
Sibling names for Neyla
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Neyla — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Neyla
What does the name Neyla mean?
Neyla means "one who attains," from the Arabic nala, to obtain.
Is Neyla the same as Nayla?
Yes — both spell the Arabic Naila. They rank one place apart in France and are counted separately.
Is the ey spelling Arabic?
No, it is a French orthographic habit, the same one behind Leyna.
How popular is Neyla?
167th in France, where it is rising.
Is Neyla a girl's or a boy's name?
Neyla is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
Is Neyla a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Neyla currently ranks #167 in France. It has been rising over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.