Head to head · Girls' names
Abby vs Iliana
#731 vs #730 in 2025
Iliana is a whisker ahead (#730 vs #731 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Iliana is climbing the charts fast, Abby is stepping back from its peak.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
The tape is even: Abby and Iliana each lead 3 measures of 6.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Abby #871, Iliana — — Abby higher
- 1890s: Abby #1253, Iliana — — Abby higher
- 1900s: Abby #1571, Iliana — — Abby higher
- 1910s: Abby #2319, Iliana — — Abby higher
- 1920s: Abby #2235, Iliana — — Abby higher
- 1930s: Abby #1773, Iliana — — Abby higher
- 1940s: Abby #1263, Iliana — — Abby higher
- 1950s: Abby #931, Iliana #4676 — Abby higher
- 1960s: Abby #717, Iliana #2130 — Abby higher
- 1970s: Abby #627, Iliana #1781 — Abby higher
- 1980s: Abby #222, Iliana #1238 — Abby higher
- 1990s: Abby #215, Iliana #863 — Abby higher
- 2000s: Abby #200, Iliana #758 — Abby higher
- 2010s: Abby #393, Iliana #815 — Abby higher
- 2020s: Abby #609, Iliana #849 — Abby higher
Abby stood higher in every recorded decade — 15 of 15.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Abby | Iliana |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #871 | — |
| 1890s | #1253 | — |
| 1900s | #1571 | — |
| 1910s | #2319 | — |
| 1920s | #2235 | — |
| 1930s | #1773 | — |
| 1940s | #1263 | — |
| 1950s | #931 | #4676 |
| 1960s | #717 | #2130 |
| 1970s | #627 | #1781 |
| 1980s | #222 | #1238 |
| 1990s | #215 | #863 |
| 2000s | #200 | #758 |
| 2010s | #393 | #815 |
| 2020s | #609 | #849 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Abby
my father is joy (from Abigail)
The Hebrew Avigail combines the word for father with a root meaning joy or rejoicing, usually read as 'my father is joy' or 'my father's joy'.
Avigail → Abigail (Greek and Latin scriptures) → Abigail (English) → Abby
How it traveled
The name behind Abby is Avigail, borne in the first book of Samuel by a woman who talks David out of bloodshed and is praised for her good sense; she later becomes his wife. Greek and Latin translators of the Hebrew scriptures carried the name into Europe, where English Protestants took it up in earnest after the Reformation and kept it through the settling of the American colonies.
Iliana
Usually read as a form of Helen; in Greek and Bulgarian use, tied instead to Elijah or to the sun
Two serious roads meet at this spelling. As a variant of Romanian and Spanish Ileana, it belongs to the Elena–Helen family, whose Greek root Helenē has itself never been settled, though it is often connected to a word for torch or light. In Greek and Bulgarian, Iliana is instead the feminine counterpart of Ilias/Ilia — that is, Elijah, from Hebrew 'my God is Yahweh' — and is also linked by Greek speakers to helios, the sun. Both readings are genuine; neither cancels the other.
Helenē → Helena → Elena → Ileana → Iliana
How it traveled
The oldest layer is Greek Helenē, which passed into Latin and then spread through Europe as Elena and Helena. Romanian reshaped it into Ileana, the form that carries the fairy-tale princess Ileana Cosânzeana of Romanian folk tales, and Spanish took up Ileana as well.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Abby
AB-ee
Stress on the first syllable, short a as in 'cab'. No regional variation to speak of in American English.
- Abbie — An older spelling of the same short form, common on nineteenth-century records and still given as a full legal name.
- Abbey — Spelling variant, used both as a nickname and as a name in its own right.
- Abs — Informal, mostly among friends and siblings; not used in writing.
- Abigail — The long form, available in reverse: many an Abby is Abigail on paper and Abby everywhere else.
- Also Gail.
Iliana
ee-lee-AH-nah
Four syllables with the stress on the third. English speakers who read the first letter as a short i say ill-ee-AH-na, and both are heard in the US. Greek speakers place the stress the same way; Romanian Ileana shifts slightly to ee-LYAH-na.
- Lia — The most portable short form, and a full given name in its own right in Italian, Spanish and English.
- Ili — Informal, taken from the front of the name; sometimes written Illy or Ily.
- Ana — Drawn from the ending; stands alone as a given name across Spanish, Portuguese and Balkan languages.
- Nana — Household-level nickname, mostly used within families rather than at school.
- Also Elle.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Abby if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsAbby is stepping back from its peak
- a name with fewer syllablesAbby is 2 syllables to Iliana's 4
- a long American recordAbby was already in use when US records began in 1880
Choose Iliana if you want…
- a name on the way upup 161 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itIliana runs 4 syllables, Abby 2
- a newer arrivalIliana entered the US charts in 1955
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Abby
Strengths
- Understood instantly across the English-speaking world, with no pronunciation guesswork on the first day of school.
- Comes with a built-in formal option: parents who want both can register Abigail and use Abby from the start.
- A documented line running from the Hebrew Bible through Reformation England to American birth records, unbroken.
To consider
- Abby, Abbie and Abbey are all in genuine use, so expect to spell it out fairly often — and to receive mail with the other two.
- It is a diminutive by origin, which some people prefer to have as a choice rather than the whole name; registering Abigail keeps a longer version in reserve.
- The name is well past its high point and most Abbys in the country today are adults rather than children, so a girl named Abby now will likely be the only one in her class.
Iliana
Strengths
- The ending it shares with Juliana, Adriana and Eliana means most people can spell it after hearing it once, even if they have never met it before.
- Works unchanged or near-unchanged in Spanish, Romanian, Greek and Bulgarian — useful in a family or a school that spans more than one language.
- Several ready-made short forms, including Lia and Ana, which are established given names on their own.
To consider
- The near-twins are the real cost: Eliana, Ileana, Ilyana and Iliana all circulate, and Eliana is the more common of them. Expect to spell it and to be called Eliana occasionally for life.
- The two stress patterns — ee-lee-AH-nah and ill-ee-AH-na — both exist in the US, so you may end up correcting the first vowel as often as the spelling.
- It has been gaining rather than fading, so it is likely to be somewhat better known by the time a child born now reaches school than it is now.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Abby and Iliana in full.
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Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
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More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
- Sports legend names in the records
- First Lady names through the centuries
- The names with the most spellings
- all guides
Where Abby and Iliana each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Abby or Iliana — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Abby or Iliana?
- Iliana, in 2025: Iliana ranked #730 with 380 babies; Abby ranked #731 with 379 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Abby or Iliana?
- Iliana. Over the last five years Abby moved down 222 places; Iliana moved up 161 places.
- Which is the older name, Abby or Iliana?
- Abby was already in use when US records began in 1880; Iliana entered the US charts in 1955. On the American record, Abby is the older name.
- How many people are named Abby and Iliana?
- About 60,000 people named Abby are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 13,000 people named Iliana are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Abbys or Ilianas in the classroom?
- Abby will almost certainly be the only one in school. Iliana will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
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