Anilah
Feminine · “wind”
Anilah is the same name as Anila with a decision made about the last letter, and the decision carries information. In Urdu and Arabic transliteration a final h stands for a real letter; in American naming it is usually added for weight. Anilah sits between those two practices, which is why the spelling is used both by South Asian families and by families with no connection to that tradition at all.
How old is the name Anilah?
Anilah first appears in US birth records in 2004 — 21 years ago. The typical Anilah is a kid of about 11 — this name's wave is very recent. About 500 people named Anilah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Anilah most popular?
Anilah peaked in 2014, reaching #3778 nationally. Today it ranks #5722, 1,944 places below that high. See the whole 2014 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From anila to Anilah
The story of Anilah
The terminal h is one of the most misread features of modern name spelling. In transliterations from Arabic, Persian and Urdu it usually represents the letter ta marbuta or a final he, and it is doing genuine orthographic work: Aminah, Fatimah and Khadijah are written that way because something is there. In American respellings — Mariah for Maria, Norah for Nora, Anilah for Anila — the h is added because it makes a short name look more substantial and more formal on the page. The two practices produce identical-looking spellings from opposite intentions, and once a name is on an American birth certificate there is no way to tell which one produced it. Anilah is a name where both explanations are live.
Meaningscholars disagree
wind, air, in the Sanskrit reading
The Sanskrit word anila, 'wind', from the root an, 'to breathe', is genuine and old, and it names one of the eight Vasus. An unrelated Albanian name Anila, common since the mid-twentieth century, has no established etymology. A third possibility applies specifically to this spelling: in Urdu-influenced naming the terminal h marks a feminine ending, and Anilah may belong there rather than to either of the first two. Three routes, one spelling, and the h is the only clue — and it is not a reliable one.
How the name formed
- anila
- Anila
- Anilah
Related forms: Anila · Anila · Aneela
Pronouncing Anilah
uh-NEE-lah
Three syllables, stress in the middle; the h is silent. A front-stressed AH-nih-lah is used by some Indian families and is closer to the Sanskrit. The h does not change the sound in either case.
Nicknames for Anilah
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
- 2004
- Most girls named
- 201240 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3778reached in 2014
- Change vs 2024
- +10.5%21 in 2025, from 19
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.
Anilah in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Anila in Hindi — spelling variant
- Anila in Albanian — spelling variant
- Aneela in Urdu — related form
Anilahs among us
people named Anilah are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 76,537 born in 2025 was named Anilah
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Anilah
- #5722
- Anilah on the 2025 chart
- #644
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Anilah went to 21 girls in 2025, but Anyla, Anylah and Aniylah and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 6 spellings went to 334, which makes it the 644th most-given girls’ name of the year — 5,078 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 4,812 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 76,537 for Anilah 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 Janny test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Anilah's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Janny climbed just as high around 1955, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Janny's path sketches the road Anilah is walking now.
Anilah 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
Anilah beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Anilah in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is soft, vowel-rich and easy to say in a very wide range of languages.
- Ani and Nila are both available as short forms with different characters.
- The final h gives a short name more presence on the page without complicating it.
- The h is dropped by nearly everyone writing the name from dictation.
- Anila, Aneela and Anilah are all in use and are constantly swapped.
- The name has more than one possible origin, so the meaning question needs a qualifier.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Anilah to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Anilah? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Anilah
Feminine · #5722 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Anilahs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Anilah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Anilah?
- Anilah is one of 6 recorded spellings. Anyla is the more common one — 131 births in 2025 against 21 for Anilah.
- How popular is the name Anilah in 2025?
- Anilah ranks #5722 among US girl names in 2025, with 21 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Anilah?
- About 1 in every 76,537 US girls born in 2025 was named Anilah — 21 in all.
- Will my child share the name Anilah with classmates?
- Anilah will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Anilah
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rosina#5722 · Delores#5722 · Vaughn#5722 · Roseline#5722 · Loyal#5722 · Missy#5722 · Danitza#5722 · Margret#5722
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Anilah? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Anilah and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle