Head to head · Girls' names
Laila vs Lana
#413 vs #406 in 2025
Lana is a whisker ahead (#406 vs #413 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Lana is holding its place on the charts, Laila is stepping back from its peak.
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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, Lana leads 3 measures of 6; Laila 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
- 1880s: Laila #851, Lana #950 — Laila higher
- 1890s: Laila #1517, Lana #1104 — Lana higher
- 1900s: Laila #1887, Lana #1486 — Lana higher
- 1910s: Laila #1672, Lana #1922 — Laila higher
- 1920s: Laila #2302, Lana #1826 — Lana higher
- 1930s: Laila #2684, Lana #1872 — Lana higher
- 1940s: Laila #3448, Lana #220 — Lana higher
- 1950s: Laila #3025, Lana #293 — Lana higher
- 1960s: Laila #2685, Lana #315 — Lana higher
- 1970s: Laila #2017, Lana #414 — Lana higher
- 1980s: Laila #1703, Lana #568 — Lana higher
- 1990s: Laila #1508, Lana #942 — Lana higher
- 2000s: Laila #286, Lana #571 — Laila higher
- 2010s: Laila #162, Lana #403 — Laila higher
- 2020s: Laila #313, Lana #398 — Laila higher
Lana stood higher in 10 of 15 decades; Laila has held the lead since the 2000s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Laila | Lana |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #851 | #950 |
| 1890s | #1517 | #1104 |
| 1900s | #1887 | #1486 |
| 1910s | #1672 | #1922 |
| 1920s | #2302 | #1826 |
| 1930s | #2684 | #1872 |
| 1940s | #3448 | #220 |
| 1950s | #3025 | #293 |
| 1960s | #2685 | #315 |
| 1970s | #2017 | #414 |
| 1980s | #1703 | #568 |
| 1990s | #1508 | #942 |
| 2000s | #286 | #571 |
| 2010s | #162 | #403 |
| 2020s | #313 | #398 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Laila
Not charting outside the US.
Lana
- France#97
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Laila
night
From Arabic layl, night — the same root behind Layla and Leyla. There is a second, unrelated road: in Norway, Sweden and Finland, Laila is documented as a form of the Sámi name Láilá, itself connected to Helga. Same spelling, two separate origins, and both are genuinely in use.
Laylā (Arabic) → Layla → Leyla → Laila
How it traveled
The Arabic ليلى (Laylā) belongs to a story older than most European literature: Qays, so consumed by love for Layla that he was called Majnun, the madman. Nizami Ganjavi shaped it into a Persian narrative poem in the twelfth century, and from there it traveled through Turkish, Urdu, Kurdish and Malay retellings, carrying the name with it.
Lana
Depends on which Lana: 'light' through Svetlana, or 'calm, buoyant' in Hawaiian
Several genuine roads meet at this spelling. In Russian and across the Balkans, Lana is the everyday short form of Svetlana, from a root meaning 'light'; it also clips Milana and Alana. In Hawaiian, lana is a word meaning 'floating, buoyant, calm'. In Latin and its descendants — Italian, Spanish — lana simply means 'wool'. None of these cancels the others; the name arrived in English from more than one direction.
Svetlana → Lana
How it traveled
The Slavic line is the best documented: Svetlana became widespread in Russia in the nineteenth century, and Lana is its ordinary short form, still used that way in Russia, Croatia and Serbia, where Lana also stands alone as a full given name. In English, the name came in largely by a different door — as a clipping of Alana, the feminine of the Irish and Breton name Alan, and then through American film, when a young contract actress was given Lana as a screen name in the late 1930s.
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
Laila
LAY-lah
LAY-lah is the standard reading in the US and matches the Arabic. Some English speakers seeing it cold will try LIE-lah, and in parts of Scandinavia LIE-la is the usual pronunciation — worth expecting the question once or twice a year.
- Lala — The most common family short form; informal, mostly used by parents and younger siblings.
- Lai — Clipped one-syllable form used among friends; rarely written down.
- Lulu — Informal pet form, not derived from the letters so much as attached to them.
- Lay — Occasional playground shortening in English-speaking settings.
Lana
LAH-nuh
LAH-nuh is the dominant pronunciation in the US and matches the Slavic original. Some American families say LAN-uh, rhyming with Anna. Both are established, so it is worth deciding which one you mean early — people will ask.
- Lanie — The most common affectionate extension; also spelled Laney and used on its own as a given name.
- Lala — A family-only nickname, mostly used with small children.
- Lan — Rare and informal in English; Lan is a separate given name in Vietnamese and Chinese.
One short form, two names
- Laila and Lana both shorten to Lala.
Short forms as recorded on each name’s own page. This is here so it is a decision rather than a discovery.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Laila if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsLaila is stepping back from its peak
Choose Lana if you want…
- a name that charts abroad tooLana is on the national lists of France
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
Laila
Strengths
- Recognized across Arabic, Turkish, Persian, Urdu and Scandinavian naming traditions, with the spelling intact in all of them.
- Short, two syllables, no silent letters, and easy for a small child to say and write early.
- A documented literary history going back to a twelfth-century Persian poem, plus a famous song built on the same story.
To consider
- Layla, Leila, Leyla and Laela all sound the same aloud, so expect to spell it often. Laila is well established, but it is not the version most Americans reach for first.
- A minority of readers will say LIE-lah on sight. It is a one-second correction, not a lifelong burden, but it will recur.
- The Clapton song is a strong association for older generations and may come up as a joke or a comment more than once.
Lana
Strengths
- Spelled exactly as it sounds, and short enough that no one needs it repeated or abbreviated on a form.
- Works unchanged in Russian, Croatian, Serbian and French, where it also currently charts — useful in a bilingual family.
- A long, level record rather than a fashion spike: represented across several generations of living Americans, not concentrated in one.
To consider
- Two live pronunciations, LAH-nuh and LAN-uh, means a lifetime of small corrections unless you are relaxed about either.
- The singer Lana Del Rey is the strongest current association in the US, and for some listeners the name will call up her music before anything else.
- In Spanish and Italian, lana is the ordinary word for wool. Harmless, but Spanish-speaking relatives will notice it.
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 Laila and Lana 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
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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
- Names far more common than their rank admits
- France's favorites still rare in America
- Midcentury modern: tomorrow's comeback bets
- Slavic names with soft power
- all guides
Where Laila and Lana each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Laila or Lana — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Laila or Lana?
- Lana, in 2025: Lana ranked #406 with 768 babies; Laila ranked #413 with 755 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Laila or Lana?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Laila moved down 186 places; Lana moved down 13 places.
- Which is the older name, Laila or Lana?
- Laila entered the US charts in 1884; Lana entered the US charts in 1885. On the American record, Laila is the older name.
- How many people are named Laila and Lana?
- About 42,500 people named Laila are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 50,000 people named Lana are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Do Laila and Lana share a nickname?
- Yes — both shorten to Lala, so in a house with both names the short form would not say which child is meant.
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
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