Head to head · Girls' names
Audrey vs Ayla
#86 vs #77 in 2025
Ayla is a whisker ahead (#77 vs #86 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Ayla is climbing the charts fast, Audrey 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: Audrey and Ayla 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: Audrey #444, Ayla — — Audrey higher
- 1890s: Audrey #285, Ayla — — Audrey higher
- 1900s: Audrey #190, Ayla — — Audrey higher
- 1910s: Audrey #133, Ayla — — Audrey higher
- 1920s: Audrey #76, Ayla — — Audrey higher
- 1930s: Audrey #72, Ayla — — Audrey higher
- 1940s: Audrey #138, Ayla — — Audrey higher
- 1950s: Audrey #158, Ayla — — Audrey higher
- 1960s: Audrey #194, Ayla #5891 — Audrey higher
- 1970s: Audrey #252, Ayla #9871 — Audrey higher
- 1980s: Audrey #186, Ayla #2759 — Audrey higher
- 1990s: Audrey #159, Ayla #839 — Audrey higher
- 2000s: Audrey #78, Ayla #607 — Audrey higher
- 2010s: Audrey #42, Ayla #262 — Audrey higher
- 2020s: Audrey #72, Ayla #98 — Audrey higher
Audrey stood higher in every recorded decade — 15 of 15.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Audrey | Ayla |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #444 | — |
| 1890s | #285 | — |
| 1900s | #190 | — |
| 1910s | #133 | — |
| 1920s | #76 | — |
| 1930s | #72 | — |
| 1940s | #138 | — |
| 1950s | #158 | — |
| 1960s | #194 | #5891 |
| 1970s | #252 | #9871 |
| 1980s | #186 | #2759 |
| 1990s | #159 | #839 |
| 2000s | #78 | #607 |
| 2010s | #42 | #262 |
| 2020s | #72 | #98 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Audrey
- Canada#59
Ayla
- Scotland#41
- Canada#44
- England & Wales#47
- France#71
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Audrey
noble strength
The Old English original joins a word for noble to one for strength. The modern form preserves almost none of the letters, which is a large part of why it survived.
Aethelthryth → Etheldreda → Audrey
How it traveled
The woman behind it made two political marriages and kept out of both. Aethelthryth was a princess of East Anglia, married first to a local king and then to a much younger Northumbrian one, and by her own account and her biographer's she remained a virgin through both; when the second husband changed his mind about the arrangement, she left, walked to Ely, and founded a monastery on land she had been given as a marriage settlement.
Ayla
Turkish: 'moonlight' or 'halo around the moon'. Hebrew: 'doe' or 'oak', through Ayala.
The Turkish reading is straightforward: *ay* means moon, and Ayla is glossed as moonlight or the ring of light around the moon. Independently, Ayla is used in Hebrew as a variant of Ayala, tied to words for a female deer and for the oak or terebinth tree. Neither reading borrowed from the other; the same spelling simply arrived twice.
ay (Turkish: moon) → Ayla
How it traveled
The Turkish Ayla is the older documented thread — a name formed from *ay*, moon, and in ordinary use in Turkey and Azerbaijani-speaking areas well before it appeared in American records. The Hebrew line runs separately, where Ayla stands as a shorter form of Ayala.
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
Audrey
AW-dree
Two syllables with the weight at the front. French says it the same way, which is unusual for a name that crosses the Channel.
- Aud — Cut to one syllable; used inside families, and shared with the Norse name Audr.
- Dree — Cut from the back; a modern informal form.
- Auds — A modern informal form used among friends.
Ayla
AY-lah
The usual American pronunciation is AY-lah, with the first syllable like the letter A. In Turkish, *ay* sounds like the English word 'eye', so a Turkish speaker will say something closer to eye-LAH. Both are correct in their own setting, and families who use the name across languages often live with both.
Who has carried each name
Audrey
Audrey Hepburn (b. 1929) — Breakfast at Tiffany's icon and devoted UNICEF ambassador
Audrey Tautou (b. 1976) — Star of the beloved French film Amélie
Ayla
No documented entry for Ayla yet.
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Audrey if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsAudrey is stepping back from its peak
- plenty of nickname options3 recorded short forms — Aud, Dree and Auds
- a name that feels very nowAudrey is stepping back from its peak
Choose Ayla if you want…
- a name on the way upup 54 places on the charts in five years
- a name that stays wholeno recorded short form for Ayla
- a name that charts abroad tooAyla is on the national lists of Scotland, Canada, England & Wales and France
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 55% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 78% for Audrey
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
Audrey
Strengths
- Everyone can spell it and say it on first hearing in English and in French.
- It has a documented English history reaching back to the seventh century.
- It is short, has no silent letters and needs no explanation.
To consider
- The word tawdry comes from this name, and someone will eventually mention it.
- It is currently very popular, so a child may share it with others.
- The spelling is recorded for a small number of boys, though it reads overwhelmingly as a girl's name.
Ayla
Strengths
- Short, phonetic and easy to spell from hearing it once — four letters, no silent letters, no doubled consonants.
- Works in Turkish, Hebrew and English without translation or adjustment, which matters in families that span more than one of them.
- Already recognized in several other countries, including Scotland, Canada, England and Wales, and France.
To consider
- It sits in a crowded sound-neighborhood with Isla, Layla, Lyla and Ayda. Expect a certain amount of gentle correcting, spoken and written.
- The AY-lah and eye-LAH pronunciations both have real claim to the name, so she may hear it two ways depending on who is speaking.
- The name is climbing rather than settling, so it will likely be better known by the time she starts school than it is now — familiar, though still not one of the names in every classroom.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Audrey
78%chance Audrey feels dated by 2040
Audrey is coming down from a big peak (#33 in 2013). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
Ayla
55%chance Ayla feels dated by 2040
Ayla is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
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 Audrey and Ayla in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Audrey and Ayla?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
- America's top 100 names right now
- Vowel names: soft starts from A to O
- Two-syllable names, the American default
- all guides
Every list here names both Audrey and Ayla — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Audrey or Ayla — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Audrey or Ayla?
- Ayla, in 2025: Ayla ranked #77 with 3,149 babies; Audrey ranked #86 with 2,919 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Audrey or Ayla?
- Ayla. Over the last five years Audrey moved down 26 places; Ayla moved up 54 places.
- Which is the older name, Audrey or Ayla?
- Audrey entered the US charts in 1881; Ayla entered the US charts in 1963. On the American record, Audrey is the older name.
- How many people are named Audrey and Ayla?
- About 213,000 people named Audrey are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 38,000 people named Ayla are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Audreys or Aylas in the classroom?
- Audrey will almost certainly be the only one in school. Ayla will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
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