Leila
Top 1000
About Leila
Leila was popularized in the West by the poet Byron, who used it in his poem Don Juan for a ten-year-old Turkish girl. Leila also appears as a fairy in the Gilbert & Sullivan comic opera Iolanthe.
The haunting Leila been chosen by such celebs as Al Roker and Greta Scacchi and Vincent D'Onofrio. While Leila has managed to appear on the Top 1000 list in the U.S. every year but two, phonetic form Layla is now much higher on the list in America. And parents attracted to girl names with the double l sound will find that most examples -- from Leila to Lila to Lily and Lillian and Lilith-- are zooming up the charts and, while classics, are undeniably trendy.
Yet another alternative is Lelia, a Latin name used in Roman times.
Pronounced LAY-la.
As of October 2026, Leila ranked #259 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #165 in 1880, Nameberry popularity #473.
Editor's take: The name Leila is a girl's name of Arabic, Persian origin meaning "night".
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #243 | 1,331 | 745.1 |
| 2015 | #248 | 1,307 | 732.2 |
| 2016 | #230 | 1,393 | 786.1 |
| 2017 | #220 | 1,410 | 816.7 |
| 2018 | #239 | 1,358 | 798.3 |
| 2019 | #225 | 1,387 | 826.4 |
| 2020 | #205 | 1,408 | 871 |
| 2021 | #214 | 1,384 | 843.5 |
| 2022 | #246 | 1,245 | 759.1 |
| 2023 | #240 | 1,271 | 792.1 |
| 2024 | #268 | 1,191 | 735.1 |
| 2025 | #259 | 1,193 | 742.3 |
World rankings
Similar names
These 20 names were selected by our users looking for other names like Leila.
- Liliana
- Keira
- Lilliana
- Alana
- Talia
- Laila
- Kiera
- Liana
- Arielle
- Eliana
- Kira
- Alina
- Lana
- Salena
- Annalise
- Lia
- Layla
- Alessia
- Lilah
- Camila
Leila on lists
Famous Leilas
- Leila Aboulela
Sudanese writer
- Leila Ahmed
Egyptian,American professor
- Leila Diniz
Brazilian actress and feminist
- Leila Barros
Brazilian volleyball player
- Leila Bela
American musician, actress and writer
- Leila Denmark
American pediatrician
- Leila Forouhar
Iranian singer and actress
- Leila Hatami
Iranian actress
- Leila Hayes
Australian actress
- Leila Hyams
American film actress
- Leila Josefowicz
American violinist
- Leila K
Swedish rapper
- Leila Khaled
Palestinian Militant
- Leila Lopes
Miss Universe 2011 winner
- Leila McKinnon
Kiwi,Australian journalist
- Leila Mourad
Egyptian singer and movie star
- Leila Pahlavi
Iranian princess
- Leila Sobral
Brazilian basketball player
- Leila Tong
Hong Kong actress and singer
- Leila Vaziri
American swimmer, world record holder
- Leila Boyer (b. 2009)
daughter of novelist Edwidge Danticat
- Leila Emmanuelle Mathison (b. 2006)
daughter of Cameron Mathison
- Leila Rey Valencia (b. 2009)
daughter of Judy Reyes
Leila in pop culture
- Leila
character in Sharon Creech's "Bloomability"
- Leila
a fairy in Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera Iolanthe (1882)
- Leila Hunter
character from "When in Rome"
- Leila Okulgen
character in novel "Does My Head Look Big in This?"
- Leila Smith
an infant "number" in TV Drama "Person of Interest"
- Leila Williams
character in the fifthy shades of darker
- Leila Hope
little girl character in film "Southpaw"
- Leila Mae Potter
main character of the story 'Lost Along the Way' by JanuaryLily