Head to head · Girls' names
Leila vs Lilly
#259 vs #252 in 2025
Lilly is a whisker ahead (#252 vs #259 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Lilly is holding its place on the charts, Leila is stepping back from its peak.
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, Lilly leads 4 measures of 6; Leila 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: Leila #177, Lilly #216 — Leila higher
- 1890s: Leila #210, Lilly #260 — Leila higher
- 1900s: Leila #263, Lilly #288 — Leila higher
- 1910s: Leila #321, Lilly #354 — Leila higher
- 1920s: Leila #369, Lilly #392 — Leila higher
- 1930s: Leila #422, Lilly #461 — Leila higher
- 1940s: Leila #564, Lilly #612 — Leila higher
- 1950s: Leila #710, Lilly #801 — Leila higher
- 1960s: Leila #828, Lilly #1018 — Leila higher
- 1970s: Leila #853, Lilly #1610 — Leila higher
- 1980s: Leila #800, Lilly #1705 — Leila higher
- 1990s: Leila #917, Lilly #1043 — Leila higher
- 2000s: Leila #355, Lilly #233 — Lilly higher
- 2010s: Leila #229, Lilly #135 — Lilly higher
- 2020s: Leila #238, Lilly #241 — Leila higher
Leila stood higher in 13 of 15 decades; Leila took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Leila | Lilly |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #177 | #216 |
| 1890s | #210 | #260 |
| 1900s | #263 | #288 |
| 1910s | #321 | #354 |
| 1920s | #369 | #392 |
| 1930s | #422 | #461 |
| 1940s | #564 | #612 |
| 1950s | #710 | #801 |
| 1960s | #828 | #1018 |
| 1970s | #853 | #1610 |
| 1980s | #800 | #1705 |
| 1990s | #917 | #1043 |
| 2000s | #355 | #233 |
| 2010s | #229 | #135 |
| 2020s | #238 | #241 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Leila
Not charting outside the US.
Lilly
- Scotland#83
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Leila
night
From Arabic layl, "night", through the feminine form Laylā. The same Semitic root gives Hebrew laylah, also "night", so the meaning holds across both traditions.
Laylā → Leïla → Leila
How it traveled
The name begins in Arabic as Laylā and became famous through the story of Layla and Majnun — the poet driven mad by love, a tale told in Arabic verse and reshaped into a Persian narrative poem by Nizami Ganjavi in the twelfth century. From there it spread wherever that story was read: Persian, Turkish, Urdu, and the wider Islamic world.
Lilly
The lily flower
The word reached English as Latin lilium, which the Romans took from Greek leirion. Lilly also works as a short form of Elizabeth and of Lillian, so a child called Lilly may be arriving by either road — the flower or the abbreviation.
leirion → lilium → lilie → Lily → Lilly
How it traveled
The lily was a name for the flower in English long before it was a name for a person: Old English took lilie straight from Latin lilium. As a personal name it grew from two directions at once — as an affectionate clipping of Elizabeth and Lillian, in use for centuries, and as one of the flower names English speakers adopted with real enthusiasm in the nineteenth century, alongside Rose, Violet and Daisy.
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
Leila
LAY-la (also LEE-la)
Both are in genuine use in the US, and neither is a mistake. LAY-la is closer to the Arabic and Turkish original; LEE-la follows the older English reading of the -ei- spelling. Worth deciding which one you want to correct people toward.
- Lei — Informal, family-level shortening; rarely written down.
- Lala — Affectionate, mostly used by younger siblings and grandparents.
- Lee — Informal; also a standalone given name and surname in English.
- Lulu — Playful, unrelated to the spelling; used in some families and also stands alone.
Lilly
LIL-ee
Stress on the first syllable. Lilly, Lily and Lillie all sound identical, so the spelling is the only thing that distinguishes them out loud.
- Lil — The standard informal clip, used within families and among friends; rarely a legal name on its own.
- Lils — Casual, mostly peer-to-peer and in text messages.
- Lilly-Bee — A household-only compound of the kind the L sound invites; not used outside the family.
- Lillian — Works in reverse — some families register the long form and use Lilly every day.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Leila if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsLeila is stepping back from its peak
Choose Lilly if you want…
- a name that charts abroad tooLilly is on the national lists of Scotland
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
Leila
Strengths
- Recognized across Arabic, Persian, Turkish, French and English — it needs no translation in most of the world.
- Unbroken presence in American records from the very start of them, so it reads neither invented nor dated.
- Two syllables, all familiar sounds, easy for a small child to say and to write.
To consider
- Leila, Layla, Laila and Leyla all sound near enough alike, so she will spell it out often. Choosing this spelling means accepting a lifetime of "with an e-i".
- The two pronunciations, LAY-la and LEE-la, both have a fair claim. Teachers and receptionists will guess, and they will not always guess yours.
- Eric Clapton's 1970 song "Layla" fixed that sound in a lot of ears; expect the occasional hummed line back at you.
Lilly
Strengths
- Instantly readable and instantly pronounceable in English — nobody has to be taught how to say it.
- A long unbroken record on US charts, without ever having been the name everyone in the room had.
- Recognized across German, Scandinavian and other European naming traditions in almost this exact form.
To consider
- Lily is the more familiar spelling in the US, so Lilly will be written the other way on forms, name tags and greetings fairly often. Most families settle into correcting it once and letting the rest go.
- The sound is more common than this particular spelling. Lila, Lilah, Lillian and Lily all circulate, so a Lilly may share a playground with near-twins even while being the only Lilly.
- Lilly is also a well-known American surname and pharmaceutical company name, which occasionally comes up in adult professional settings — a passing remark rather than a real obstacle.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Leila
25%chance Leila feels dated by 2040
Leila peaked long ago yet still holds steady — names that survive their own wave usually settle into quiet, durable classics.
Lilly
40%chance Lilly feels dated by 2040
Lilly sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
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 Leila and Lilly 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 Leila and Lilly?
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 head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
- Victorian names ready for a second century
- Arabic names in American use
- Soft-sounding names built on liquid letters
- Names ending in -la
- all guides
Where Leila and Lilly each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Leila or Lilly — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Leila or Lilly?
- Lilly, in 2025: Lilly ranked #252 with 1,218 babies; Leila ranked #259 with 1,193 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Leila or Lilly?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Leila moved down 54 places; Lilly moved down 23 places.
- Which is the older name, Leila or Lilly?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Leila and Lilly?
- About 42,000 people named Leila are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 55,500 people named Lilly are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Leilas or Lillys in the classroom?
- Leila will almost certainly be the only one in school. Lilly 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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