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Layla

Variation of Leila, Arabic
"night"
Clare Green
By Clare Green
Updated Wed Apr 09 2025

Layla Origin and Meaning

The name Layla is a girl's name of Arabic origin meaning "night".

A lovely musical name (remember the old Eric Clapton-Derek & the Dominos song?), Layla's seen a significant surge in popularity, partly partly all names with a double L are stylish, and partly because all the forms of the name push it into the Top 15 for girls.

Layla is the most popular spelling of the name, as well as the one with the most phonetic spelling. Other popular forms are, in order, Leila, Laila, Laela, Laelah, Laylah, Leyla, Lejla, and Leighla.Leila, Laila, Leyla, Laylah, Leilah, Lailah, Leylah

If you're concerned about the name's popularity, you might consider that there are many other names that are similar. There's Leilani, for instance, along with Leah and Leia and Lily and new favorite Lyra. Layla is derived from the Semitic element layl, meaning "night." It has roots in the Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian languages. In the Arabic story Qays and Layla, Layla is the subject of the poet’s unrequited love.

The spelling Laila is represented by boxer Laila Ali.

# 30 in the US

Layla Rank in US Top 1000

# 243 on Nameberry

Layla Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

Popularity of the name Layla

20 Names Similar to Layla

These 20 names were selected by our users that were looking for other names like Layla.

Famous People Named Layla

  • Layla El
    English pro wrestler
  • (Zara) Layla Kayleigh
    English,American TV presenter
  • Layla bint al
    Minhal, disciple of Muhammad and wife of Arab chieftain Malik ibn Nuwayra
  • Layla Grace Marsh
    girl who inspired the Layla's Legacy cancer foundation
  • Layla Foreman
    daughter of musician Tim Foreman of Switchfoot
  • Layla Z. Summers (b. 1978)
    daughter of musician Andy Summers of The Police
  • Layla Lee (b. 1993)
    daughter of actress Tottie Goldsmith and skier Steven Lee
  • Layla LaCosta (b. 1999)
    daughter of singer Tanya Tucker
  • Layla Marie Taylor (b. 2010)
    daughter of singer Willie Taylor of Day26
  • Layla Rose Csortan (b. 2016)
    daughter of TV personality and former Miss Australia Laura Csortan
  • Layla Morrison (b. 2017)
    daughter of youtubers CinnamonToastKen and SuprMaryFace

The name Layla in Pop Culture

  • "Layla
    " song by Derek and the Dominoes
  • "Layla and Majnun
    " Persian narrative poem by Nizami Ganjavi
  • Layla Williamson
    character on American soap "One Life to Live"
  • Layla Rose Miller aka Butterfly
    character in Marvel X,Factor comics
  • Layla aka Aisha
    character on animated series "Winx Club"
  • Layla Baileygates
    character in movie "Me, Myself, & Irene"
  • Layla
    character on TV's "Justified"
  • Layla
    character in movie "Sky High"
  • Layla Heartfilia
    character in the manga and amine 'Fairy Tail'
  • Layla
    brand of Italian nail polish
  • Layla
    character in the TV series 'The Story of Tracy Beaker'
  • Layla Hassan
    character in the video game "Assassin's Creed: Origins"
  • Layla Grant
    character on TV's "Nashville"
  • Layla Keating
    character on TV's "All American"

The name Layla in Nameberry Blog Posts