Aila
Feminine
Aila is a long-established Finnish woman's name that also sits one letter away from Ayla and one sound away from Isla — which means most people hear it as familiar before they have ever met it. Two open syllables, no hard consonants, and a vowel run that ends softly. In American records it has been quietly present for generations, with its real growth arriving only recently.
How old is the name Aila?
Aila first appears in US birth records in 1920 — 105 years ago. The typical Aila is a kid of about 6 — this name's wave is very recent. About 4,200 people named Aila are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Aila most popular?
Aila peaked in 2021, reaching #752 nationally. Today it ranks #827, 75 places below that high. See the whole 2021 chart.
Aila appears on this list:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Aila
Aila's clearest documented home is Finland, where it has been a standard woman's name through the twentieth century, with its own day on the Finnish name-day calendar; the closely related Áile belongs to the Sami languages of the far north. The spelling arrived in the United States with Nordic immigration and stayed thin on the ground for decades. Its recent lift has more to do with sound than ancestry: the Turkish Ayla and the Scottish Isla both became widely known in English-speaking countries, and Aila rides between them. The heroine of Jean Auel's 1980 novel The Clan of the Cave Bear was Ayla, spelled with a y, and that book did much to plant the sound in American ears.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
Two serious readings compete, and they come from different parts of the world. In the Nordic tradition, Aila is linked to the Northern Sami name Áile, a Sami form of Helga, from an old Norse root meaning 'holy'. Separately, the near-identical Turkish name Ayla means 'halo around the moon', and English-speaking parents often use Aila as a spelling of that name. Which one applies depends on which road a family came in by.
Pronouncing Aila
EYE-lah
In Finnish, the ai spelling gives EYE-lah, and that is the pronunciation used in the name's home country. Many American speakers reach for AY-lah instead, on the model of Ayla. Both are in real use, so it is worth deciding which one you want and saying it first at every introduction.
Nicknames for Aila
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1920
- Most girls named
- 2021378 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #752reached in 2021
- Change vs 2024
- −7.3%329 in 2025, from 355
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Aila in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Aila in Finnish — same name
- Áile in Northern Sami — related form
- Ayla in English — spelling variant
- Ayla in Turkish — related form
- Eila in Finnish — related form
- Isla in Scottish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Ailas among us
people named Aila are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 4,885 born in 2025 was named Aila
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Aila
- #827
- Aila on the 2025 chart
- #67
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Aila went to 329 girls in 2025, but Ayla, Aylah and Aiyla and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 11 spellings went to 3,867, which makes it the 67th most-given girls’ name of the year — 760 places above the chart.
and 4 rarer spellings.
About 1 girl in 416 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 4,885 for Aila itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Harlene test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Aila's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Harlene climbed just as high around 1937, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Harlene's path sketches the road Aila is walking now.
Aila 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 scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Aila is headed
Aila should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Aila beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Aila in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Four letters, two syllables, no silent letters — easy to write, easy to fit on anything.
- Genuinely at home in Finnish and, in its near-twin spellings, in Turkish and English, so it crosses borders without translation.
- Sounds immediately familiar because of Isla, Ayla and Ella, while remaining uncommon on the page.
- A documented history as a standard Finnish name, not a recent coinage.
- The pronunciation is not settled in American English. Expect both EYE-lah and AY-lah, and expect to correct one of them for life.
- Spelling will need repeating. Ayla, Ayla, Isla and Isla all crowd the same sound, and forms and teachers will guess wrong a fair share of the time.
- The meaning depends on which origin you claim — 'holy' by the Nordic route, 'moon halo' by the Turkish one. That is a choice to make, not a gap to worry about.
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What they receive
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Aila
Feminine · #827 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Ailas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 4,200 people named Aila are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Aila?
- Aila is one of 7 recorded spellings. Ayla is the more common one — 3,149 births in 2025 against 329 for Aila.
- How popular is the name Aila in 2025?
- Aila ranks #827 among US girl names in 2025, with 329 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Aila?
- About 1 in every 4,885 US girls born in 2025 was named Aila — 329 in all.
- Will my child share the name Aila with classmates?
- Aila will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Aila
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Kyra#827 · Amelie#827 · Layan#827 · Celina#827 · Aliya#823 · Jessie#823 · Promise#823 · Nyomi#823
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Aila? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Aila and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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