Head to head · Girls' names
Ila vs Remy
#718 vs #718 in 2025
Ila and Remy share the same spot on the 2025 charts (#718). The records cannot split them; sound and story 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, Ila leads 4 measures of 6; Remy leads 0.
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: Ila #347, Remy — — Ila higher
- 1890s: Ila #278, Remy — — Ila higher
- 1900s: Ila #253, Remy — — Ila higher
- 1910s: Ila #270, Remy — — Ila higher
- 1920s: Ila #281, Remy — — Ila higher
- 1930s: Ila #347, Remy — — Ila higher
- 1940s: Ila #587, Remy — — Ila higher
- 1950s: Ila #987, Remy — — Ila higher
- 1960s: Ila #1646, Remy #6107 — Ila higher
- 1970s: Ila #2709, Remy #4774 — Ila higher
- 1980s: Ila #3852, Remy #3272 — Remy higher
- 1990s: Ila #4485, Remy #2238 — Remy higher
- 2000s: Ila #2528, Remy #2093 — Remy higher
- 2010s: Ila #1315, Remy #952 — Remy higher
- 2020s: Ila #721, Remy #615 — Remy higher
Ila stood higher in 10 of 15 decades; Remy has held the lead since the 1980s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Ila | Remy |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #347 | — |
| 1890s | #278 | — |
| 1900s | #253 | — |
| 1910s | #270 | — |
| 1920s | #281 | — |
| 1930s | #347 | — |
| 1940s | #587 | — |
| 1950s | #987 | — |
| 1960s | #1646 | #6107 |
| 1970s | #2709 | #4774 |
| 1980s | #3852 | #3272 |
| 1990s | #4485 | #2238 |
| 2000s | #2528 | #2093 |
| 2010s | #1315 | #952 |
| 2020s | #721 | #615 |
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
Ila
In Sanskrit, 'earth' — also 'speech' or 'flow'; the American name's route is a separate question
Two things share this spelling. Sanskrit Ilā is well documented, glossed as earth, speech, or flowing water, and borne by Ilā of the Puranas, child of Manu. The Ila that appears in nineteenth-century American records has no single settled source: it fits equally well as a clipped form of names ending in -ila (Camila, Priscilla, Ludmila), as a respelling of Ilah, and as the Hungarian pet form of Ilona. No one reading has won.
How it traveled
The oldest thread is Indian: Ilā appears in Sanskrit literature both as a common noun for the earth and as a named figure in the Puranas, and the name remains in use across South Asia today. The American Ila is a different arrival, showing up in the earliest US birth records without a documented parent name — its neighbors in those registers are Ida, Ola, Ella and Ilah, and it behaves like one of that family.
Remy
oarsman, rower
From Latin Remigius, built on remex, remigis — the man at the oar. The saint's fame in Gaul, not the word itself, is what carried the name forward.
Remigius → Rémi → Rémy → Remy
How it traveled
The Latin Remigius belonged most famously to the bishop of Reims who died around 533 and who baptized the Frankish king Clovis, an event that anchored the name in northern France for good. Medieval French wore it down to Rémi and Rémy, and the accent-free Remy is simply what the name looks like once English gets hold of it.
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
Ila
EYE-la
EYE-la is the usual American reading. EE-la is standard for the Sanskrit name and is common wherever the South Asian Ilā is known. Both are correct for their own line, so whichever you pick, expect to say it twice on first meeting.
Remy
REM-ee
Standard in American English, stress on the first syllable. The French Rémy is ray-MEE, with the stress at the back — worth deciding which one you want before the name is handed to a room full of relatives.
- Rem — The obvious clipped form; used informally and rarely written on anything official.
- Remmy — A doubled-consonant spelling used affectionately, mostly by family.
- Rey — Occasional, and stands on its own as a given name elsewhere.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Ila if you want…
- a name on the way upup 146 places on the charts in five years
- a name that stays wholeno recorded short form for Ila
- a long American recordIla was already in use when US records began in 1880
Choose Remy if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsRemy is stepping back from its peak
- plenty of nickname options3 recorded short forms — Rem, Remmy and Rey
- a newer arrivalRemy entered the US charts in 1964
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
Ila
Strengths
- Three letters and two syllables: fast to write, fast to say, and it fits on any form without abbreviation.
- On US records continuously since national name-keeping began, so it is old rather than newly coined.
- In genuine use in more than one part of the world, including South Asia, where the spelling is long established.
To consider
- Two live pronunciations, EYE-la and EE-la. Neither is wrong, but you will be correcting people for years, and so will she.
- It sits very close to Isla, Ella, Ida and Ayla in both sight and sound, and phone calls and roll calls will occasionally deliver one of those instead.
- In capitals or certain sans-serif fonts, ILA and Ila can read as a lowercase L. Worth checking how it looks in whatever font your paperwork uses.
Remy
Strengths
- Two syllables, five letters, and spelled the way an English speaker hears it — no accent to lose in forms and databases.
- Works for a girl or a boy without either use looking like a mistake, since American records carry both.
- A documented line running back to late-antique Gaul, with living forms in French, Italian, Spanish and Polish.
To consider
- Two pronunciations compete: the English REM-ee and the French ray-MEE. Both are correct for the name, so expect to correct people occasionally, and expect the correction to be easy.
- Rémy Martin cognac and the cooking rat in Pixar's Ratatouille are the two associations most Americans reach for first. Neither is a problem, but you will hear about them.
- The spelling splits three ways — Remy, Remi, Rémy — so the name will sometimes be written back to you in a form you didn't choose.
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 Ila and Remy 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 Ila and Remy?
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 these names appear on
Where Ila and Remy each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Ila or Remy — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Ila or Remy?
- They tie in 2025: Ila ranked #718 with 390 babies; Remy ranked #718 with 390 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Ila or Remy?
- Ila. Over the last five years Ila moved up 146 places; Remy moved down 222 places.
- Which is the older name, Ila or Remy?
- Ila was already in use when US records began in 1880; Remy entered the US charts in 1964. On the American record, Ila is the older name.
- How many people are named Ila and Remy?
- About 9,200 people named Ila are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 8,200 people named Remy are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Ilas or Remys in the classroom?
- Ila will almost certainly be the only one in school. Remy 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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Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Ila, Remy and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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