Ilya
About Ilya
A rare example of an a-ending boy's name that sounds masculine, Ilya has a large measure of creative Slavic charm. >p>Ilya Ilyich Oblomov is the central character in Goncharov's novel "Oblomov." Unfortunately, he spends most of his life in his bathrobe and slippers.
Pronounced EEL-yah.
As of October 2026, Ilya ranked #3153 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #2623 in 2018, Nameberry popularity #840.
Editor's take: The name Ilya is a boy's name of Greek, Russian origin meaning "the Lord is my God".
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #3,491 | 31 | 16.1 |
| 2015 | #3,181 | 36 | 18.8 |
| 2016 | #3,921 | 27 | 14.2 |
| 2017 | #3,479 | 32 | 17.3 |
| 2018 | #2,623 | 48 | 26.4 |
| 2019 | #3,121 | 38 | 21.2 |
| 2020 | #3,044 | 38 | 22 |
| 2021 | #3,145 | 38 | 21.7 |
| 2022 | #4,028 | 27 | 15.5 |
| 2023 | #3,442 | 34 | 19.9 |
| 2024 | #3,623 | 31 | 18 |
| 2025 | #3,153 | 38 | 22.2 |
World rankings
Similar names
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Ilya on lists
Famous Ilyas
- Ilya Yefimovich Repin
Russian realist painter
- Ilya Nikolayevich Bryzgalov
Russian ice hockey player
- Ilya Valeryevich Kovalchuk
Russian ice hockey player
- Ilya Mikhailovich Frank
Russian physicist and Nobel Prize winner
- Ilya Romanovich Prigogine
Belgian physical chemist and Nobel Prize winner
- Ilya Yankelevich Gabay
Russian civil rights activist
- Ilya Perfilyev
Russian explorer
- Ilya Igorevich Sorokin
Russian ice hockey player
Ilya in pop culture
- Ilya Muromets
Russian folk hero
- Ilya Afanasyevich Shamrayev
character in Anton Chekhov's "The Seagull"
- Ilya Stepanovich Igolkin
character in Vladimir Obruchev's "Plutonia"
- Ilya "Ilyusha" Snegiryov
character in Fyodor Dostoevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov"
- Ilya Pasternak
character in video game "Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation"
- Ilya Kuryakin
main character on TV's "The Man from U.N.C.L.E."
- Ilya Tretiak
character in 1997 movie "The Saint"
- Ilya
character in "Letters from Rifka" by Karen Hesse
- Ilya
Julian's real name in visual novel The Arcana
- Ilya Rozanov
Character in the Game Changer series by Rachel Reid