Hala
Feminine · “halo”
Hala is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 1,813 girls against 7 boys since 1880.
Hala is the ring of light around the moon on a humid night — Arabic has a specific word for it, and this is that word. It is one of the more precise things a name has ever been made from.
How old is the name Hala?
Hala first appears in US birth records in 1887 — 138 years ago. The typical Hala alive today was born around 2009, making them about 16 years old. About 1,800 people named Hala are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Hala most popular?
Hala peaked in 1887, reaching #1147 nationally. Today it ranks #2933, 1,786 places below that high. See the whole 1887 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From hala to Hala
The story of Hala
Arabic naming draws heavily on the sky and the weather — Najma, a star; Thurayya, the Pleiades; Hala, the moon's ring — and desert observation gave the language a fine vocabulary for it. Hala has been a woman's name across the Levant, Egypt and the Gulf for a long time, used by Muslim and Christian families alike. It reaches United States records with families from all of those, and the four letters survive the crossing without needing any adjustment.
Meaning
halo; the ring of light around the moon
Arabic hala names the luminous ring that appears around the moon or the sun when there is ice or moisture in the air. It is the same phenomenon English calls a halo, and the English word comes from an unrelated Greek one. The Arabic reading is documented and not disputed, and the word is in ordinary use for the thing itself as well as for the name.
How the name formed
- hala
- Hala
Related forms: Hala · Hale · Hala
Pronouncing Hala
HAH-lah
Two syllables, stress on the first, both vowels open. The initial h is a light throat sound in Arabic and an ordinary English h is close enough. HAY-luh, with an English long a, is a common American mistake.
Nicknames for Hala
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
- 1887
- Most girls named
- 200969 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1147reached in 1887
- Change vs 2024
- +23.9%57 in 2025, from 46
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.
Hala in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Hala in Arabic — transliteration
- Hale in Turkish — spelling variant
- Hala in Urdu — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Michigan, California.
Halas among us
people named Hala are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 28,198 born in 2025 was named Hala
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Hala
- #2933
- Hala on the 2025 chart
- #895
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Hala went to 57 girls in 2025, but Halah is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 65, which makes it the 895th most-given girls’ name of the year — 2,038 places above the chart.
- Hala57
- Halah8
About 1 girl in 24,727 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 28,198 for Hala 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
Fashion outlook
Hala 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 Hala is headed
Hala 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.
Hala beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Hala in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A precise and beautiful meaning that names a real thing you can go outside and see.
- Four letters, entirely phonetic, and said nearly correctly by English speakers at first sight.
- Short and open, which pairs well with a long or complicated surname.
- English speakers reach for HAY-luh on first sight until corrected.
- It sits close to Hala, Halle and Haley in speech and gets confused with all three.
- The final a is fully open in Arabic and reduced in American English, which flattens it.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Hala 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 Hala? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Hala
Feminine · #2933 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Halas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,800 people named Hala are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Hala?
- Hala is the most-used spelling in US records — 57 of the 65 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Halah.
- How popular is the name Hala in 2025?
- Hala ranks #2933 among US girl names in 2025, with 57 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Hala?
- About 1 in every 28,198 US girls born in 2025 was named Hala — 57 in all.
- Will my child share the name Hala with classmates?
- Hala will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Hala
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Taylynn#2933 · Tali#2933 · Ivori#2933 · Layah#2933 · Jailyne#2933 · Azlynn#2933 · Blima#2933 · Melisa#2933
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Hala? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Hala 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