Head to head · Girls' names
Avery vs Layla
#37 vs #36 in 2025 · both stepping back from its peak
Layla is a whisker ahead (#36 vs #37 in 2025) and both are stepping back from its peak. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
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
On the charts, Avery leads 3 measures of 6; Layla leads 2.
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
- 1890s: Avery #1210, Layla — — Avery higher
- 1900s: Avery #1740, Layla — — Avery higher
- 1910s: Avery #2273, Layla — — Avery higher
- 1920s: Avery #2370, Layla — — Avery higher
- 1930s: Avery #2830, Layla — — Avery higher
- 1940s: Avery #3039, Layla — — Avery higher
- 1950s: Avery #3175, Layla #5047 — Avery higher
- 1960s: Avery #3203, Layla #5249 — Avery higher
- 1970s: Avery #2608, Layla #1527 — Layla higher
- 1980s: Avery #1481, Layla #1296 — Layla higher
- 1990s: Avery #472, Layla #961 — Avery higher
- 2000s: Avery #86, Layla #182 — Avery higher
- 2010s: Avery #16, Layla #30 — Avery higher
- 2020s: Avery #27, Layla #30 — Avery higher
Avery stood higher in 12 of 14 decades; Avery has held the lead since the 1990s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Avery | Layla |
|---|---|---|
| 1890s | #1210 | — |
| 1900s | #1740 | — |
| 1910s | #2273 | — |
| 1920s | #2370 | — |
| 1930s | #2830 | — |
| 1940s | #3039 | — |
| 1950s | #3175 | #5047 |
| 1960s | #3203 | #5249 |
| 1970s | #2608 | #1527 |
| 1980s | #1481 | #1296 |
| 1990s | #472 | #961 |
| 2000s | #86 | #182 |
| 2010s | #16 | #30 |
| 2020s | #27 | #30 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Avery
- Canada#54
Layla
- Scotland#43
- Canada#50
- England & Wales#56
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Avery
elf ruler, from Germanic alf 'elf' and ric 'power, ruler'
Avery and Aubrey are two English outcomes of the same Germanic name, Alberich, which reached England through Norman French.
Alberich → Auberi → Aubrey → Avery
How it traveled
The Germanic name Alberich — alf, 'elf', plus ric, 'power' or 'ruler' — arrived in England with Norman French speakers, who had reshaped it into forms like Auberi and Auvrey. Those forms produced both Aubrey and Avery in medieval English use, and Avery then settled into an English family name carried down the generations.
Layla
night
From Arabic layl, "night"; Laylā is the feminine form, roughly "a night" or "nocturnal".
layl (Arabic, "night") → Laylā → Leila → Layla
How it traveled
The name is Arabic, and it carries the story of Layla and Majnun with it: Qays falls so hopelessly in love with Layla that he is nicknamed Majnun, "possessed", a tale circulated among Arab poets and then retold at length by Nizami Ganjavi in Persian in the twelfth century. Through Persian, Turkish and Urdu literature the name spread across a huge stretch of the world, appearing as Leyla, Laila and Leila.
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
Avery
AY-vuh-ree
Often compressed to two syllables, AYV-ree, in ordinary speech. Both are standard and no one will correct you.
- Ave — Informal household short form, usually rhyming with 'save'.
- Avi — Informal, and also a standalone given name of separate Hebrew origin.
- Aves — Casual, more common among friends and siblings than adults.
- Ave-Ave — Doubling used with small children; drops away with age.
- Also Ry.
Layla
LAY-luh
The ay spelling settles the first vowel, which is the practical advantage over Leila — that one is said both LAY-luh and LEE-luh. In Arabic and Turkish the two syllables sit more evenly, closer to LAY-lah.
- Lay — Informal clipping used within families; rarely written down.
- Lala — A household nickname, common among younger siblings and in Arabic-speaking families.
- Lay-Lay — Reduplicated pet form, mostly used with small children rather than adults.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Avery if you want…
- a name with more sound in itAvery runs 3 syllables, Layla 2
- plenty of nickname options5 recorded short forms — Ave, Avi and Aves
Choose Layla if you want…
- a name with fewer syllablesLayla is 2 syllables to Avery's 3
- a name that charts abroad tooLayla is on the national lists of Scotland, Canada and England & Wales
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
Avery
Strengths
- One spelling that almost everyone can write on first hearing, with no silent letters to explain.
- A documented line back to medieval England and, before that, to Germanic Alberich — the same root that gave Aubrey.
- Works for a son or a daughter without changing form, and is well established in both directions in American use.
To consider
- Because most Averys are girls, a boy named Avery will meet assumptions on paper — forms, class lists, first emails. Nothing that a spoken introduction doesn't fix, but it happens repeatedly.
- Ava and Avery sit close together in sound and in current use, so expect the occasional mix-up between the two, and think about it before pairing them with a sibling name that starts the same way.
- Averie, Averi and Avry all exist as spellings, so you may sometimes be asked which one you meant.
Layla
Strengths
- Works across Arabic, Turkish, Persian and English without translation or adjustment — one of the genuinely international two-syllable names.
- Phonetic in English once written: the ay spelling tells a reader exactly which vowel to use.
- A documented literary history going back to seventh-century Arabic poetry, retold in Persian, Urdu and Turkish verse.
To consider
- Leila, Laila, Leyla and Lejla are all in circulation, so she will spend a lifetime saying "Layla with a Y" at appointments and coffee counters.
- The Clapton song is inescapable for anyone who knows it, and some will sing the riff on being introduced. Whether that is charming or tiresome depends on the day.
- Sound-alikes cluster nearby — Lyla, Lila, Lily, Leila — so even if she is the only Layla in her grade, hers may not be the only name in that shape.
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 Avery and Layla 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 Avery and Layla?
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 than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Avery and Layla — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Avery or Layla — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Avery or Layla?
- Layla, in 2025: Layla ranked #36 with 5,338 babies; Avery ranked #37 with 5,267 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Avery or Layla?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Avery moved down 18 places; Layla moved down 12 places.
- Which is the older name, Avery or Layla?
- Avery entered the US charts in 1890; Layla entered the US charts in 1950. On the American record, Avery is the older name.
- How many people are named Avery and Layla?
- About 168,000 people named Avery are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 128,000 people named Layla are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Averys or Laylas in the classroom?
- Avery will almost certainly be the only one in school. Layla 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
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Avery, Layla and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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