Head to head · Girls' names
Liliana vs Lyla
#78 vs #80 in 2025 · both climbing the charts fast
Liliana is a whisker ahead (#78 vs #80 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
On the charts, Liliana leads 4 measures of 6; Lyla 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: Liliana —, Lyla #1015 — Lyla higher
- 1890s: Liliana —, Lyla #995 — Lyla higher
- 1900s: Liliana —, Lyla #1097 — Lyla higher
- 1910s: Liliana —, Lyla #954 — Lyla higher
- 1920s: Liliana —, Lyla #792 — Lyla higher
- 1930s: Liliana —, Lyla #871 — Lyla higher
- 1940s: Liliana —, Lyla #1058 — Lyla higher
- 1950s: Liliana #4544, Lyla #1584 — Lyla higher
- 1960s: Liliana #2188, Lyla #2919 — Liliana higher
- 1970s: Liliana #863, Lyla #3571 — Liliana higher
- 1980s: Liliana #523, Lyla #3905 — Liliana higher
- 1990s: Liliana #339, Lyla #3441 — Liliana higher
- 2000s: Liliana #207, Lyla #919 — Liliana higher
- 2010s: Liliana #118, Lyla #136 — Liliana higher
- 2020s: Liliana #93, Lyla #99 — Liliana higher
Lyla stood higher in 8 of 15 decades; Liliana has held the lead since the 1960s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Liliana | Lyla |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | — | #1015 |
| 1890s | — | #995 |
| 1900s | — | #1097 |
| 1910s | — | #954 |
| 1920s | — | #792 |
| 1930s | — | #871 |
| 1940s | — | #1058 |
| 1950s | #4544 | #1584 |
| 1960s | #2188 | #2919 |
| 1970s | #863 | #3571 |
| 1980s | #523 | #3905 |
| 1990s | #339 | #3441 |
| 2000s | #207 | #919 |
| 2010s | #118 | #136 |
| 2020s | #93 | #99 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Liliana
Not charting outside the US.
Lyla
- Scotland#50
- England & Wales#74
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Liliana
Lily, or a lengthened form of Lilian
Two accounts compete, and both are respectable. The straightforward one traces the name to Latin lilium, 'lily' — the flower of medieval Christian art and of countless Annunciation paintings. The other notes that English Lilian began life as a medieval pet form of Elizabeth, only later drawn toward the flower by sound; Liliana, as the Romance elaboration of Lilian, would inherit that history. Most Italian and Spanish usage today reads it simply as the lily.
Lilium → Lilian → Lillian → Liliana
How it traveled
The Latin lilium gave southern Europe its word for the lily, and gave a family of names its first syllables. Lilian appears in medieval and early modern England as a familiar form of Elizabeth, and by the nineteenth century Lillian was well established as a name in its own right, understood by then as a flower name.
Lyla
"night" in Arabic, through Layla — though the Lila/Lyla spellings also draw on Sanskrit "play"
Two serious lines meet at this spelling. The dominant one is Arabic layla, "night", the name of the beloved in the classical Layla and Majnun story, which reaches English as Layla, Leila and Laila. The other is Sanskrit līlā, "play" or "divine play", the source of Indian Lila. Because Lyla is a modern English respelling rather than a name with its own separate paper trail, it inherits both readings honestly.
Layla → Leila → Lila → Lyla
How it traveled
The oldest road runs through Arabic, where Layla is the woman at the center of the Layla and Majnun story — an Arabic tale of doomed love that the Persian poet Nizami turned into a long verse romance in the twelfth century, after which it spread across Persian, Turkish, Urdu and Kurdish literature. English picked the name up in the Romantic era, where Byron used the form Leila in his Eastern tales, and again in the twentieth century through popular music.
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
Liliana
lil-ee-AH-na
In Spanish and Italian the first syllable is closer to 'lee': lee-lee-AH-na. Some English speakers say lil-ee-AN-a, rhyming the third syllable with 'Anne'; both are heard in the US and neither needs correcting.
- Lily — The most common English short form, and a widely used given name on its own, so it may be read as the full name by people who meet her casually.
- Lili — The usual spelling in Italian, Spanish and Hungarian usage; informal, and travels well outside English.
- Lia — Taken from the middle of the name; a standalone given name in Italy and Portugal as well.
- Lilo — Informal, more common in German-speaking and some Latin American families than in English.
- Also Ana, Lil.
Lyla
LY-luh
First syllable rhymes with "my". The most frequent mix-up is with Layla (LAY-luh) and with Lila, which some families say LY-luh and others LEE-luh — expect to correct both.
- Ly — The obvious clipping, used at home rather than on paper; short enough that it usually needs the full name nearby.
- Lylie — An affectionate extension rather than a shortening, common with young children and often dropped later.
- Lulu — A loose family pet name rather than a direct short form; also stands alone as a given name in its own right.
Who has carried each name
Liliana
Liliana Segre (b. 1930) — Holocaust survivor made an Italian senator for life
Lyla
No documented entry for Lyla 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 Liliana if you want…
- a name with more sound in itLiliana runs 4 syllables, Lyla 2
- plenty of nickname options6 recorded short forms — Lily, Lili and Lia
Choose Lyla if you want…
- a name with fewer syllablesLyla is 2 syllables to Liliana's 4
- a name that charts abroad tooLyla is on the national lists of Scotland and England & Wales
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
Liliana
Strengths
- Works unchanged in Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian, so it needs no translating in a bilingual family.
- Short forms are already established and varied — Lily, Lili, Lia, Ana — rather than something a family has to invent.
- Close enough to the familiar Lillian that people grasp the spelling quickly once they hear it.
To consider
- The Lil- family is crowded: Lily, Lila, Lilah, Lillian and Lilliana are all in circulation, so she may share her opening sound with other children even while her full name stays uncommon.
- Spelling gets asked about — Liliana, Lilianna, Lilliana and Lillianna all exist. One 'l' in the middle, one 'n', is the standard form here.
- It is on a steady rise rather than settled, so the name is likely to be somewhat more familiar by the time she is grown than it is now.
Lyla
Strengths
- Short, evenly stressed and readable at first sight for English speakers, with no silent letters and no ambiguity about where the emphasis falls.
- Sits on a name with a very long documented literary history in Arabic, Persian and Turkish, so it is recognizable well beyond English.
- Used across the English-speaking world, including in Britain, which makes it portable rather than regional.
To consider
- Lila, Leila, Layla and Laila all sound close or identical, so she will spell it out often and receive mail with the other versions.
- This is a recent wave rather than a long steady presence, so most people carrying the name are children — the effect skews young for now, and is climbing.
- She is unlikely to share it with a classmate today, but a fast-rising name can feel more crowded by the time she reaches high school.
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 Liliana and Lyla 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 Liliana and Lyla?
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 that carry both names
- America's top 100 names right now
- Names at their all-time peak, right now
- The names with the most spellings
- all guides
Every list here names both Liliana and Lyla — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Liliana or Lyla — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Liliana or Lyla?
- Liliana, in 2025: Liliana ranked #78 with 3,118 babies; Lyla ranked #80 with 3,089 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Liliana or Lyla?
- Lyla. Over the last five years Liliana moved up 32 places; Lyla moved up 38 places.
- Which is the older name, Liliana or Lyla?
- Liliana entered the US charts in 1950; Lyla entered the US charts in 1884. On the American record, Lyla is the older name.
- How many people are named Liliana and Lyla?
- About 74,000 people named Liliana are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 46,500 people named Lyla are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Lilianas or Lylas in the classroom?
- Liliana will almost certainly be the only one in school. Lyla 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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