Head to head · Girls' names
Lina vs Lylah
#572 vs #584 in 2025
Lina is a whisker ahead (#572 vs #584 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Lina is back after a long quiet spell, Lylah is holding its place on the charts.
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, Lina leads 6 measures of 6; Lylah 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: Lina #295, Lylah — — Lina higher
- 1890s: Lina #373, Lylah — — Lina higher
- 1900s: Lina #471, Lylah — — Lina higher
- 1910s: Lina #619, Lylah #4085 — Lina higher
- 1920s: Lina #726, Lylah #4207 — Lina higher
- 1930s: Lina #821, Lylah #4218 — Lina higher
- 1940s: Lina #1010, Lylah — — Lina higher
- 1950s: Lina #1169, Lylah — — Lina higher
- 1960s: Lina #1144, Lylah — — Lina higher
- 1970s: Lina #1138, Lylah #8292 — Lina higher
- 1980s: Lina #1076, Lylah — — Lina higher
- 1990s: Lina #1075, Lylah #6500 — Lina higher
- 2000s: Lina #974, Lylah #3211 — Lina higher
- 2010s: Lina #802, Lylah #652 — Lylah higher
- 2020s: Lina #611, Lylah #581 — Lylah higher
Lina stood higher in 13 of 15 decades; Lylah has held the lead since the 2010s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Lina | Lylah |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #295 | — |
| 1890s | #373 | — |
| 1900s | #471 | — |
| 1910s | #619 | #4085 |
| 1920s | #726 | #4207 |
| 1930s | #821 | #4218 |
| 1940s | #1010 | — |
| 1950s | #1169 | — |
| 1960s | #1144 | — |
| 1970s | #1138 | #8292 |
| 1980s | #1076 | — |
| 1990s | #1075 | #6500 |
| 2000s | #974 | #3211 |
| 2010s | #802 | #652 |
| 2020s | #611 | #581 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Lina
- France#17
Lylah
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
Lina
Two roads: the ending of names like Carolina, Angelina and Adelina, cut loose; and an Arabic name from a word for softness, used for a young palm tree
The European Lina is a clipping — the final syllables of Latin-derived names in ‑lina, used so long on their own that they became a name in their own right. That path carries no meaning beyond its parent name's. The Arabic لينا comes from the root for soft or tender; līna is also a word for a kind of palm, which appears in the Qur'an (59:5). Both are genuine, and a given Lina may come from either.
Carolina, Adelina, Angelina → Lina
How it traveled
The ‑lina ending belongs to a long family of Latin names — Carolina, Adelina, Paulina, Evelina — and in Italy, Germany and Scandinavia the habit of shortening them to the last two syllables goes back centuries. By the nineteenth century Lina was being registered as a full given name in its own right across German- and Italian-speaking Europe, and it traveled to the United States with those families.
Lylah
Most often read as "night", from Arabic layl
Three readings genuinely compete, because three older names meet at this spelling. Through Layla and Leila the root is Arabic layl, "night". Through Lila the trail leads to Persian and Arabic līlak, "lilac", and separately to Sanskrit līlā, "play". And Lyla has also been used in English as a feminine partner to the surname Lyle, from Anglo-Norman de l'isle, "of the island". The Lylah spelling itself carries no meaning of its own; it inherits whichever of these you claim.
Layla → Leila → Lila → Lyla → Lylah
How it traveled
Lylah is a modern English respelling rather than a name with its own separate root, and its history is really the history of the sound. That sound is oldest in Arabic, in the name Layla of the seventh-century poet Qays and his beloved — a story retold across Persian, Turkish and Urdu literature for centuries.
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
Lina
LEE-nuh
LEE-nuh is the standard reading in English, Arabic, German, Italian and Spanish alike. Where the name is taken as a short form of Carolina, some English speakers say LY-nuh, so it is worth deciding early which one you will correct people to.
- Lin — Informal clipping; also used as a standalone name in its own right, particularly in Chinese contexts where it is unrelated.
- Linny — Affectionate family form, mostly used with young children.
- Li — Very short informal address within families; rarely written.
Lylah
LY-lah
First syllable rhymes with "my"; the ending is a light -uh. Because Leila and Layla are close neighbors, some people will guess LEE-lah or LAY-lah on sight, so expect to correct that now and then.
- Ly — The obvious informal clip, spoken to rhyme with "my"; rarely written down.
- Lyly — A family-and-friends diminutive; sounds identical to Lily, which some parents like and some avoid.
- Lylah-Lou — An affectionate expansion rather than a shortening, used at home more than anywhere else.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Lina if you want…
- a name most people already know#572 in 2025, 527 babies that year
- a name on the way upup 118 places on the charts in five years
- a name that charts abroad tooLina is on the national lists of France
- a long American recordLina was already in use when US records began in 1880
Choose Lylah if you want…
- a name fewer children share#584 in 2025 — lylah will almost certainly be the only one in school
- a name holding steadyLylah is holding its place on the charts
- a newer arrivalLylah entered the US charts in 1916
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
Lina
Strengths
- Four letters, two syllables, and read the same way in Arabic, German, Italian, Spanish and Swedish — it crosses borders without changing shape.
- Complete on its own, but it also works as the everyday form of Carolina, Angelina or Adelina if you want a longer name on the certificate.
- Familiar in sound without being crowded — a child is unlikely to share it in a classroom.
To consider
- Lena, Leena, Lyna and Lina all circulate, and so do two pronunciations. Expect a lifetime of small corrections — a friendly one, but constant.
- On the phone it is easily heard as Nina, Lena or Tina. Spelling it out becomes routine.
- It is very short, which reads well beside a longer surname and can feel clipped beside a one-syllable one. Worth saying the full name aloud a few times.
Lylah
Strengths
- Two syllables, no consonant clusters, and readable at a glance by English speakers — most people say it correctly on first sight.
- The sound is long established in English through Layla, Leila and Lila, so it is familiar to the ear even where the spelling is not.
- The -ah ending places it in a well-worn pattern with Norah, Hannah, Sarah and Dinah, which makes the spelling feel logical to people writing it down.
To consider
- It sits inside a crowded family of near-identical spellings — Lyla, Lila, Lilah, Layla, Leila. She will be spelling it out for people her whole life, and forms will come back wrong more often than not.
- The spelling is uncommon but the sound is not. She may well be the only Lylah in her class and still share a sound-alike name with someone in the year.
- Almost everyone carrying this exact spelling is a child right now, so there are few adult namesakes to point to — which cuts both ways: little baggage, little precedent.
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 Lina and Lylah in full.
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Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
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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
- Grandmother-chic: 1920s names ready to return
- France's favorites still rare in America
- The longest comebacks in the records
- Names that work in Spanish and English
- all guides
Where Lina and Lylah each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Lina or Lylah — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Lina or Lylah?
- Lina, in 2025: Lina ranked #572 with 527 babies; Lylah ranked #584 with 503 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Lina or Lylah?
- Lina. Over the last five years Lina moved up 118 places; Lylah moved up 10 places.
- Which is the older name, Lina or Lylah?
- Lina was already in use when US records began in 1880; Lylah entered the US charts in 1916. On the American record, Lina is the older name.
- How many people are named Lina and Lylah?
- About 15,000 people named Lina are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 8,500 people named Lylah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Linas or Lylahs in the classroom?
- Lina will almost certainly be the only one in school. Lylah 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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