Head to head · Girls' names
Isla vs Luna
#28 vs #27 in 2025
Luna is a whisker ahead (#27 vs #28 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Luna is stepping back from its peak, Isla is climbing the charts fast. On momentum, Isla has the edge.
Cast your vote2 votes
Which one would you pick?
2 parents have voted — the split shows after you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Luna leads 5 measures of 6; Isla leads 1.
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: Isla #956, Luna #488 — Luna higher
- 1890s: Isla #1222, Luna #551 — Luna higher
- 1900s: Isla #1188, Luna #652 — Luna higher
- 1910s: Isla #1313, Luna #938 — Luna higher
- 1920s: Isla #1622, Luna #1258 — Luna higher
- 1930s: Isla #1914, Luna #1989 — Isla higher
- 1940s: Isla #3408, Luna #3186 — Luna higher
- 1950s: Isla #4024, Luna #5080 — Isla higher
- 1960s: Isla #6619, Luna #5630 — Luna higher
- 1970s: Isla #8474, Luna #6597 — Luna higher
- 1980s: Isla #9116, Luna #6428 — Luna higher
- 1990s: Isla #6949, Luna #3108 — Luna higher
- 2000s: Isla #2769, Luna #757 — Luna higher
- 2010s: Isla #162, Luna #144 — Luna higher
- 2020s: Isla #35, Luna #14 — Luna higher
Luna stood higher in 13 of 15 decades; Luna has held the lead since the 1960s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Isla | Luna |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #956 | #488 |
| 1890s | #1222 | #551 |
| 1900s | #1188 | #652 |
| 1910s | #1313 | #938 |
| 1920s | #1622 | #1258 |
| 1930s | #1914 | #1989 |
| 1940s | #3408 | #3186 |
| 1950s | #4024 | #5080 |
| 1960s | #6619 | #5630 |
| 1970s | #8474 | #6597 |
| 1980s | #9116 | #6428 |
| 1990s | #6949 | #3108 |
| 2000s | #2769 | #757 |
| 2010s | #162 | #144 |
| 2020s | #35 | #14 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Isla
- Scotland#2
- England & Wales#4
- Canada#13
Luna
- France#33
- Canada#37
- England & Wales#48
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Isla
From a Scottish place name — the island of Islay and the rivers Isla
The derivation from the place name is well accepted. What Islay itself originally meant is not established; the name is old enough that it predates reliable record, with both Norse and pre-Gaelic explanations offered and none demonstrated. Separately, isla is the ordinary Spanish word for island — a coincidence of spelling rather than a shared root, but one that Spanish-speaking families notice straight away.
Ìle → Islay → Isla
How it traveled
Islay has been inhabited and named for far longer than any record of it as a personal name; in Gaelic the island is Ìle. Scottish families began using Isla as a girl's given name in the nineteenth century, part of a wider habit of drawing first names from rivers, glens and islands.
Luna
Moon
Directly from Latin lūna, 'moon' — the same root behind English 'lunar'.
Latin lūna (moon) → Luna (Roman goddess of the moon) → Luna
How it traveled
The word came first: lūna, the Latin for moon, which in Roman religion was also a goddess, worshipped alongside Sol and matched in Greek myth by Selene. Because Latin gave way to Italian, Spanish, Catalan and Romanian, 'luna' survived as an everyday word in each of them, which is why the name feels native in so many places at once.
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
Isla
EYE-la
The s is silent, as in island. Two common departures: an English speaker seeing it for the first time may try IS-la, and a Spanish speaker will naturally read it as EES-la, since it matches the Spanish word for island. Both are easily corrected, but expect to do the correcting.
- Izzy — Informal; shared with Isabel and Isabella, so it does not point back to one spelling.
- Is — Very informal, family-level; not used as a name on its own.
Luna
LOO-nuh
Said the same way in English, Spanish and Italian, with a slightly crisper final vowel in the latter two: LOO-nah. Very little room for error in any of them.
- Lu — The most common short form; informal, used at home more than on paper.
- Lulu — Affectionate, and a stand-alone given name in its own right in English and French.
- Lunita — Spanish diminutive, used affectionately in Spanish-speaking families.
- Luney — Heard informally, though the sound-alike 'loony' means some families steer away from it.
Who has carried each name
Isla
Isla Fisher (b. 1976) — Comedy standout of Wedding Crashers and Confessions of a Shopaholic
Luna
No documented entry for Luna 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 Isla if you want…
- a name on the way upup 16 places on the charts in five years
- a newer arrivalIsla entered the US charts in 1886
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 54% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 83% for Luna
Choose Luna if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsLuna is stepping back from its peak
- plenty of nickname options4 recorded short forms — Lu, Lulu and Lunita
- a long American recordLuna was already in use when US records began in 1880
- a name that feels very nowLuna is stepping back from its peak
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
Isla
Strengths
- Short, already complete, and needs no nickname to be usable at any age.
- Charts in Scotland, England and Wales, and Canada as well as the US, so it is recognized on both sides of the Atlantic.
- One dominant spelling, which keeps forms and rosters simple.
To consider
- The silent s means a lifetime of small corrections, both in speech and when someone hears it and writes Ayla or Isla as IS-la.
- Its rise is recent and steep, so it is far more common among small children than among adults — the balance may look different by the time she is in high school.
- Izzy overlaps with Isabella and Isabel, which are well represented in the same age group.
Luna
Strengths
- One spelling, one pronunciation. Almost no one will need to ask how to write it or say it.
- Works unchanged in Spanish, Italian and Romanian, where it is also simply the word for the moon.
- Currently charts in France, Canada and England & Wales as well as the US — it travels without translation.
To consider
- The name's whole wave is recent, so nearly everyone carrying it is a child. That will pass as this generation grows, but for now it reads young.
- 'Lunatic' and 'loony' come from the same Latin root, and children find that sooner or later. Most Lunas hear it once and move on.
- It is also a very popular name for dogs and cats, which comes up more often than parents expect.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Isla
54%chance Isla feels dated by 2040
Isla 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.
Luna
83%chance Luna feels dated by 2040
Luna is coming down from a big peak (#10 in 2022). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
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 Isla and Luna 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 that carry both names
Every list here names both Isla and Luna — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Isla or Luna — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Isla or Luna?
- Luna, in 2025: Luna ranked #27 with 6,076 babies; Isla ranked #28 with 6,012 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Isla or Luna?
- Isla. Over the last five years Isla moved up 16 places; Luna moved down 13 places.
- Which is the older name, Isla or Luna?
- Isla entered the US charts in 1886; Luna was already in use when US records began in 1880. On the American record, Luna is the older name.
- How many people are named Isla and Luna?
- About 57,000 people named Isla are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 85,500 people named Luna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Islas or Lunas in the classroom?
- Isla will almost certainly be the only one in school. Luna 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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