Akila
Feminine · “Arabic aqila”
When Arabic scholars in ninth-century Baghdad translated Aristotle, they needed a word for the Greek nous, the intellect. They used aql, and it became the central term of Arabic philosophy for the next six hundred years. Akila is the feminine of the adjective built on it: a woman of intellect.
How old is the name Akila?
Akila first appears in US birth records in 1974 — 51 years ago. The typical Akila alive today was born around 1999, making them about 26 years old. About 700 people named Akila are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Akila most popular?
Akila peaked in 1997, reaching #3815 nationally. Today it ranks #8362, 4,547 places below that high. See the whole 1997 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From aqila to Akila
The story of Akila
The translation movement in Baghdad, running roughly from the eighth to the tenth century, moved most of Greek philosophy, medicine, mathematics and astronomy into Arabic, often through Syriac. It was funded by the Abbasid court and staffed largely by Christian translators, and it is the reason a great deal of Greek learning survived at all: works lost in Greek exist because they were translated. The choices those translators made about vocabulary shaped philosophy in Arabic and then, when the texts were translated onward into Latin in twelfth-century Spain and Sicily, in Europe. Aql for nous is one of them. The root's other sense is instructive: it originally means to tie or hobble, as one hobbles a camel, so the intellect is named as the faculty that restrains, which is a different picture from the Greek one.
Meaningscholars disagree
Arabic aqila, sensible or wise
From the Arabic root a-q-l, associated with intellect, reason and restraint, giving aql, the intellect, and aqil, a person of sense, with the feminine aqila. Akila is also read as the Sanskrit akhila, complete or entire, and as a Tamil name. The two are unrelated and the romanised spelling cannot distinguish them. It peaks in the American data in 1997.
How the name formed
- aqila
- Akila
Related forms: Aqila · Akhila
Pronouncing Akila
ah-KEE-lah
Three syllables, stress on the second. The Arabic initial is the letter ayn, a pharyngeal consonant English omits entirely, and the q is a k made further back in the throat. English uses plain vowels and k for both.
Nicknames for Akila
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
- 1974
- Most girls named
- 199729 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3815reached in 1997
- Change vs 2024
- +50.0%12 in 2025, from 8
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.
Akila in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Aqila in Arabic — transliteration
- Akhila in Sanskrit — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Akilas among us
people named Akila are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 133,939 born in 2025 was named Akila
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Akila
- #8362
- Akila on the 2025 chart
- #928
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Akila went to 12 girls in 2025, but Akilah and Akyla are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 32, which makes it the 928th most-given girls’ name of the year — 7,434 places above the chart.
- Akila12
- Akilah10
- Akyla10
About 1 girl in 50,227 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 133,939 for Akila 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 Elita test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Akila's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Elita climbed just as high around 1919, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Elita's path sketches the road Akila is walking now.
Akila 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
Akila beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Akila in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The Arabic meaning is settled and admired.
- It works in Arabic, Indian and American settings.
- Several natural short forms are available.
- Two unrelated languages produce the same spelling.
- Two of its consonants have no English equivalent.
- Aqila and Akhila are the standard spellings in their own traditions.
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What they receive
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Akila
Feminine · #8362 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Akilas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Akila are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Akila?
- Akila is the most-used spelling in US records — 12 of the 32 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Akilah and Akyla.
- How popular is the name Akila in 2025?
- Akila ranks #8362 among US girl names in 2025, with 12 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Akila?
- About 1 in every 133,939 US girls born in 2025 was named Akila — 12 in all.
- Will my child share the name Akila with classmates?
- Akila will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Akila
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Lona#8362 · Peggy#8362 · Leda#8362 · Margarette#8362 · Rella#8362 · Evalena#8362 · Vashti#8362 · Nona#8362
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Akila? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Akila and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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