Head to head · Girls' names
Leyla vs Siena
#611 vs #610 in 2025 · both holding its place on the charts
Siena is a whisker ahead (#610 vs #611 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, Siena leads 4 measures of 6; Leyla 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
- 1950s: Leyla #4879, Siena — — Leyla higher
- 1960s: Leyla #5223, Siena #6539 — Leyla higher
- 1970s: Leyla #2675, Siena #8423 — Leyla higher
- 1980s: Leyla #3599, Siena #7257 — Leyla higher
- 1990s: Leyla #2841, Siena #2536 — Siena higher
- 2000s: Leyla #1107, Siena #992 — Siena higher
- 2010s: Leyla #699, Siena #638 — Siena higher
- 2020s: Leyla #611, Siena #646 — Leyla higher
Leyla stood higher in 5 of 8 decades; Leyla took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Leyla | Siena |
|---|---|---|
| 1950s | #4879 | — |
| 1960s | #5223 | #6539 |
| 1970s | #2675 | #8423 |
| 1980s | #3599 | #7257 |
| 1990s | #2841 | #2536 |
| 2000s | #1107 | #992 |
| 2010s | #699 | #638 |
| 2020s | #611 | #646 |
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
Leyla
Night
From Arabic layl, "night"; the same root gives Hebrew laylah.
layl (Arabic, "night") → Laylā → Leylâ (Turkish) → Leyla
How it traveled
" Nizami Ganjavi turned that story into a Persian romance in the twelfth century, and from there it traveled through Ottoman, Azerbaijani, Urdu and Central Asian literature, picking up local spellings on the way. Leyla is the form that settled in Turkish and Azerbaijani, where it has been an ordinary given name for generations.
Siena
from Siena, the city in Tuscany
What the city's own name means is a separate and unsettled question: it has been linked to the Etruscan family name Saina and to the Roman colony called Saena Julia, and neither reading has won. The English word sienna for the reddish-brown pigment comes from terra di Siena, earth of Siena.
Saena Julia → Siena → Sienna
How it traveled
Siena is the Italian spelling of the Tuscan city, a Roman settlement that grew into one of medieval Europe's great banking and painting centers and still runs its Palio horse race around the shell-shaped Piazza del Campo. Its clay-rich earth was dug, ground and sold to painters across Europe, which is how the city's name entered English as a color rather than as a name for a person.
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
Leyla
LAY-lah
In Turkish it is closer to ley-LAH, with the stress later and a small glide in the first syllable. Expect some people to try LEE-lah first, since Leila is usually said that way; one correction generally fixes it.
- Ley — The most common informal clip in English-speaking families; rarely written down.
- Lely — An affectionate diminutive used within families rather than at school.
- Lulu — A household nickname that attaches to several L-names, not to Leyla alone.
Siena
see-EN-uh
In Italian the first syllable glides into one sound, closer to SYEH-nah. In American English the three-syllable see-EN-uh is standard; some readers try SEE-nuh on first sight, which usually needs one gentle correction.
- Sia — The most natural short form; also used on its own as a given name and as a stage name, so it reads as a full name to many people.
- Sisi — Affectionate, family-and-close-friends register rather than anything you would write on a form.
- Si — Very informal and clipped; shared with Simon and Sian, so it rarely stands alone.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Leyla if you want…
- a name holding steadyLeyla is holding its place on the charts
Choose Siena if you want…
- a name on the way upup 28 places on the charts in five years
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
Leyla
Strengths
- Two syllables, all soft sounds, and no silent letters — easy to say on first sight for most English speakers.
- Travels intact across Turkish, Azerbaijani, Arabic and Persian usage, so relatives in several traditions will recognize it immediately.
- A documented literary history over a thousand years old, and continuous everyday use in Turkey and Azerbaijan.
To consider
- Layla, Leila and Laila all sound close to identical, so this spelling will be asked for and corrected fairly often. Writing it out once, cheerfully, becomes a lifelong habit.
- Eric Clapton's "Layla" is still played widely, and some people will make that connection out loud, usually by singing at her.
- The Turkish pronunciation and the American one differ slightly in stress. Families who use both will simply hear two versions of the same name, which is common enough for names that cross languages.
Siena
Strengths
- Already familiar in English as a color word, so most people can spell some version of it after hearing it once.
- Pronounced almost identically in Italian, Spanish and English — it crosses borders without being reshaped.
- Ties to a real, well-documented place with a thousand years of history behind it, rather than to a coined spelling.
To consider
- Sienna, with two n's, is the more common English spelling. Expect a lifetime of small corrections, and choose knowing that written forms will often come back doubled.
- The Toyota Sienna has been on American roads for decades. It is a mild, passing association rather than a real problem, but it exists.
- The name's use is genuinely recent, so there are few adult or elderly bearers to point to. A child named Siena will likely be the one who defines it for the people around her.
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 Leyla and Siena 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 Leyla and Siena?
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 that carry both names
Every list here names both Leyla and Siena — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Leyla or Siena — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Leyla or Siena?
- Siena, in 2025: Siena ranked #610 with 479 babies; Leyla ranked #611 with 478 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Leyla or Siena?
- Siena. Over the last five years Leyla moved down 25 places; Siena moved up 28 places.
- Which is the older name, Leyla or Siena?
- Leyla entered the US charts in 1957; Siena entered the US charts in 1965. On the American record, Leyla is the older name.
- How many people are named Leyla and Siena?
- About 10,500 people named Leyla are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 11,000 people named Siena are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Leylas or Sienas in the classroom?
- Leyla will almost certainly be the only one in school. Siena 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
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Leyla, Siena and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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