Head to head · Girls' names
Lara vs Leilany
#691 vs #694 in 2025 · Greek vs Hawaiian roots · both holding its place on the charts
Lara is a whisker ahead (#691 vs #694 in 2025) and both are holding its place on the charts. 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, Lara leads 5 measures of 6; Leilany 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: Lara #1147, Leilany — — Lara higher
- 1890s: Lara #1520, Leilany — — Lara higher
- 1900s: Lara #1651, Leilany — — Lara higher
- 1910s: Lara #2235, Leilany — — Lara higher
- 1920s: Lara #2048, Leilany — — Lara higher
- 1930s: Lara #2286, Leilany — — Lara higher
- 1940s: Lara #2829, Leilany — — Lara higher
- 1950s: Lara #2231, Leilany — — Lara higher
- 1960s: Lara #998, Leilany — — Lara higher
- 1970s: Lara #327, Leilany — — Lara higher
- 1980s: Lara #417, Leilany #12362 — Lara higher
- 1990s: Lara #725, Leilany #8962 — Lara higher
- 2000s: Lara #811, Leilany #2475 — Lara higher
- 2010s: Lara #814, Leilany #1365 — Lara higher
- 2020s: Lara #707, Leilany #746 — Lara higher
Lara stood higher in every recorded decade — 15 of 15.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Lara | Leilany |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #1147 | — |
| 1890s | #1520 | — |
| 1900s | #1651 | — |
| 1910s | #2235 | — |
| 1920s | #2048 | — |
| 1930s | #2286 | — |
| 1940s | #2829 | — |
| 1950s | #2231 | — |
| 1960s | #998 | — |
| 1970s | #327 | — |
| 1980s | #417 | #12362 |
| 1990s | #725 | #8962 |
| 2000s | #811 | #2475 |
| 2010s | #814 | #1365 |
| 2020s | #707 | #746 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Lara
- England & Wales#98
Leilany
Not charting outside the US.
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Lara
No single settled meaning — most often read as a short form of Larisa, after the Greek city Larissa
Three separate roads meet at this spelling. As a Russian pet form of Larisa, it points back to Larissa in Thessaly, whose own place-name meaning has never been established. In Latin, Lara (also Larunda) is a figure in Ovid's Fasti, connected with the Lares, the household gods of Roman homes. And in Spanish and Portuguese, Lara is a surname from Lara de los Infantes in Burgos, home of the medieval House of Lara. None of the three cancels the others out.
Larissa (Greek city name) → Larisa → Lara
How it traveled
The name's clearest line runs through Russian, where Larisa has long been shortened to Lara in ordinary speech. English-speaking readers met it that way in Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago, published in the late 1950s, and then in the film of the following decade, whose theme tune bore her name and was played half to death.
Leilany
heavenly flowers, or royal child
From Hawaiian lei, a garland or wreath of flowers, and lani, sky, heaven, or royalty. Read together the sense is a heavenly lei — and by extension a royal or beloved child. Leilany is a respelling and carries the same meaning as Leilani.
lei + lani (Hawaiian) → Leilani → Leilany
How it traveled
The name is Hawaiian, built from two ordinary and much-used words of the language, lei and lani, that appear in dozens of Hawaiian names. Leilani reached the wider United States largely through music and film in the twentieth century, most famously the song "Sweet Leilani," written by Harry Owens and recorded by Bing Crosby, which took the Academy Award for best original song in the 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
Lara
LAH-rah
The first syllable takes the vowel of "father". Many American speakers say LAIR-ah instead, and both are heard without correction; it helps to say which one you mean the first few times.
- Lala — Affectionate home form, used with small children rather than in writing.
- Larie — Occasional informal extension; rare, and not used as a given name on its own.
Leilany
lay-LAH-nee
The final y is pronounced ee, exactly as the i in Leilani. Both English and Spanish speakers land on the same four syllables, with the stress on LAH. Some English speakers begin with a lie- sound instead; lay- follows the Hawaiian.
- Lani — The most natural short form; also a standalone Hawaiian given name in its own right.
- Leila — Informal, from the first half; also an established given name of Arabic and Persian origin, which some families like and others find confusing.
- Lei — Very short and informal, mostly used within families.
- Lay — An English-sounding clip of the first syllable, heard among school friends 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 Lara if you want…
- a name holding steadyLara is holding its place on the charts
- a name with fewer syllablesLara is 2 syllables to Leilany's 3
- a name that charts abroad tooLara is on the national lists of England & Wales
Choose Leilany if you want…
- a name on the way upup 105 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itLeilany runs 3 syllables, Lara 2
- plenty of nickname options4 recorded short forms — Lani, Leila and Lei
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
Lara
Strengths
- Four letters, one obvious spelling once the sound is known, and no silent letters to dictate over the phone.
- Used unchanged in Italian, Turkish, Croatian, Slovenian, German and Portuguese, so it travels without translation.
- On US records for well over a century, and currently in use in England and Wales too — familiar without being crowded.
To consider
- Two pronunciations circulate in American English — LAH-rah and LAIR-ah — so she will likely spend some of her life gently correcting people, or letting both stand.
- It sits close to Laura, Lauren, Clara and Larissa, and mishearings in that direction are common on introductions and voicemails.
- For a good many adults, the name recalls Lara Croft of the Tomb Raider games as readily as Pasternak's heroine. Neither association is unkind, but both are strong.
Leilany
Strengths
- The sound is already widely familiar through Leilani, so most people can repeat it correctly after hearing it once.
- Reads the same way in English and Spanish, since a final y and a final i both give the ee sound.
- Comes with short forms that already stand alone as names — Lani, Leila — so there is room to grow into or out of.
To consider
- The standard spelling is Leilani, and that is what people will default to in writing. Expect a lifetime of gentle corrections on forms, name tags and email addresses.
- Lei and lani are living words in the Hawaiian language, not decorative syllables. Some families like knowing that; others prefer not to respell a word from a language they do not speak.
- This spelling's wave is very recent, so nearly everyone carrying it is still a child. That means no adult namesakes to point to yet, but also that it will sound of its generation for a long while.
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 Lara and Leilany 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 Lara and Leilany?
Put both to the vote.
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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
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- Midcentury modern: tomorrow's comeback bets
- Turkish and Armenian names in American use
- Video game names in real use
- all guides
Where Lara and Leilany each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Lara or Leilany — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Lara or Leilany?
- Lara, in 2025: Lara ranked #691 with 409 babies; Leilany ranked #694 with 407 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Lara or Leilany?
- Leilany. Over the last five years Lara moved up 16 places; Leilany moved up 105 places.
- Which is the older name, Lara or Leilany?
- Lara entered the US charts in 1887; Leilany entered the US charts in 1989. On the American record, Lara is the older name.
- How many people are named Lara and Leilany?
- About 28,500 people named Lara are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 4,900 people named Leilany are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Laras or Leilanys in the classroom?
- Lara will almost certainly be the only one in school. Leilany 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
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