Head to head · Girls' names
Lila vs Lilah
#186 vs #179 in 2025 · both climbing the charts fast
Lilah is a whisker ahead (#179 vs #186 in 2025) and both are climbing the charts fast. 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
The tape is even: Lila and Lilah each lead 3 measures of 6.
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: Lila #234, Lilah #980 — Lila higher
- 1890s: Lila #206, Lilah #923 — Lila higher
- 1900s: Lila #205, Lilah #1136 — Lila higher
- 1910s: Lila #228, Lilah #1296 — Lila higher
- 1920s: Lila #198, Lilah #1569 — Lila higher
- 1930s: Lila #225, Lilah #2260 — Lila higher
- 1940s: Lila #346, Lilah #3211 — Lila higher
- 1950s: Lila #477, Lilah #4402 — Lila higher
- 1960s: Lila #764, Lilah #5124 — Lila higher
- 1970s: Lila #1027, Lilah #5280 — Lila higher
- 1980s: Lila #1154, Lilah #5134 — Lila higher
- 1990s: Lila #1221, Lilah #4878 — Lila higher
- 2000s: Lila #445, Lilah #1085 — Lila higher
- 2010s: Lila #195, Lilah #303 — Lila higher
- 2020s: Lila #213, Lilah #210 — Lilah higher
Lila stood higher in 14 of 15 decades; Lilah took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Lila | Lilah |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #234 | #980 |
| 1890s | #206 | #923 |
| 1900s | #205 | #1136 |
| 1910s | #228 | #1296 |
| 1920s | #198 | #1569 |
| 1930s | #225 | #2260 |
| 1940s | #346 | #3211 |
| 1950s | #477 | #4402 |
| 1960s | #764 | #5124 |
| 1970s | #1027 | #5280 |
| 1980s | #1154 | #5134 |
| 1990s | #1221 | #4878 |
| 2000s | #445 | #1085 |
| 2010s | #195 | #303 |
| 2020s | #213 | #210 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Lila
- France#90
Lilah
- Scotland#100
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Lila
"night" (Arabic), "play, divine play" (Sanskrit), or a short form of Lillian or Delilah
Three serious readings meet at this spelling. As a Western form of Arabic Layla it carries the sense "night." In Sanskrit, līlā means "play" or "sport," a term used in Hindu theology for the play of the divine, and Lila is a documented Indian given name from it. And in nineteenth-century English-speaking use, Lila served plainly as a short form of Lillian, Delilah and sometimes Elizabeth. Which road a particular Lila came down usually depends on the family.
Layla → Leila → Lila
How it traveled
The oldest and best-documented road runs through Arabic: Layla, the beloved of the poet Qays in the tale of Layla and Majnun, given its most famous shape by the twelfth-century Persian poet Nizami and retold across Persian, Turkish and Urdu literature ever since. English-language readers met the name through Romantic-era poetry — Byron used Leila in The Giaour in 1813 — and the vowel loosened into Leila, Laila and Lila as it moved between alphabets.
Lilah
'night' through Layla, or 'play' through Sanskrit līlā — depending on which root you follow
Three serious readings meet at this spelling. Followed back to Arabic and Persian Layla, it means 'night'. Followed to Sanskrit līlā, it means 'play' or 'divine play'. Read instead as a clipped Delilah, it inherits that Hebrew name's own unsettled sense, usually given as 'delicate' or 'languishing'. Nothing in the record forces a choice, and most families are comfortable with more than one.
Layla → Leila → Lila → Lilah
How it traveled
Lila arrived in English-speaking use in the nineteenth century from two directions at once: as a home-made short form of Delilah and Lily, and as an Anglicized cousin of Leila, the Arabic and Persian Layla that Byron put into English poetry in 'The Giaour' in the early nineteenth century. Lilah is that name with the older -h ending, the same finish that Hannah, Sarah and Norah wear.
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
Lila
LYE-luh
Both LYE-luh and LEE-luh are in genuine use in the US, the second reflecting the Arabic and Sanskrit sources more closely. Neither is wrong, but the two do not sort themselves out on their own — most families end up saying which they mean, more than once.
- Lil — The most common informal clip; also used for Lillian and Lily, so it rarely points back to one name.
- Lilly — Informal extension rather than a true shortening; stands alone as a given name in its own right.
- Lils — Casual, mostly among friends and siblings; a modern-sounding form.
- Lolly — Family-only affectionate form, more common in older generations.
- Also Li.
Lilah
LY-luh
In the US the first syllable almost always rhymes with 'my'. The related spellings Leila and Layla are more often heard as LAY-luh or LEE-luh, so expect the occasional guess in that direction on a first meeting.
- Lilah — Widely used as the everyday short form of Delilah, and just as often given as the full name on the certificate.
- Lils — Informal, family-and-friends level; common among children and teenagers.
- Lee — Informal clip; also stands alone as a given name for both sexes in English.
- Li — Very informal, mostly spoken rather than written.
One short form, two names
- Lila and Lilah both shorten to Lils.
- Lila and Lilah both shorten to Li.
Short forms as recorded on each name’s own page. This is here so it is a decision rather than a discovery.
Who has carried each name
Lila
Lila Downs (b. 1968) — Grammy-winning Mexican-American singer
Lilah
No documented entry for Lilah 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 Lila if you want…
- a long American recordLila was already in use when US records began in 1880
Choose Lilah if you want…
- a name on the way upup 61 places on the charts in five years
- a newer arrivalLilah entered the US charts in 1884
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
Lila
Strengths
- Two syllables, four letters, and no silent letters — easy to write early and easy to read aloud once the vowel is agreed on.
- An unbroken presence in American records from the beginning of such records to now, so it reads as neither invented nor dated.
- Works across languages: recognizable in Arabic, Turkish, Persian, French and Indian naming traditions without needing a new spelling.
To consider
- The pronunciation genuinely splits — LYE-luh and LEE-luh are both current — so expect to correct people occasionally, and expect a few to keep getting it wrong.
- Lila, Lyla, Layla, Leila and Laila are all in circulation and all sound close. Spelling it out over the phone will become routine, and mail will sometimes arrive under the wrong version.
- The sound is currently well represented across that whole family of spellings, so a Lila may meet a Layla or a Lyla even while remaining the only Lila.
Lilah
Strengths
- Short, phonetic and easy for a child to write early — two syllables, no silent letters.
- The -ah ending is already familiar from Hannah, Sarah and Norah, so the shape of the word looks ordinary even when the name is new to someone.
- Recognized across Arabic, Persian and Turkish as Layla or Leyla, and charting in Scotland as well as the US.
To consider
- The spelling family is crowded: Lila, Lyla, Leila, Layla and Laila all sit nearby and all sound similar. Expect to spell it aloud often, and to receive mail addressed to a slightly different version of your daughter.
- The wave is very recent, so for now nearly every Lilah is a child rather than an adult. That reverses on its own as this generation grows up.
- Through Delilah it brushes against the Samson story in the Hebrew Bible, where Delilah is the betrayer. Few people make the connection with the short form, but a few will.
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 Lila and Lilah 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 Lila and Lilah?
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 Lila and Lilah — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Lila or Lilah — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Lila or Lilah?
- Lilah, in 2025: Lilah ranked #179 with 1,736 babies; Lila ranked #186 with 1,670 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Lila or Lilah?
- Lilah. Over the last five years Lila moved up 42 places; Lilah moved up 61 places.
- Which is the older name, Lila or Lilah?
- Lila was already in use when US records began in 1880; Lilah entered the US charts in 1884. On the American record, Lila is the older name.
- How many people are named Lila and Lilah?
- About 47,500 people named Lila are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 23,500 people named Lilah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Do Lila and Lilah share a nickname?
- Yes — both shorten to Lils and Li, 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
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Lila, Lilah and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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