Ila
Feminine · “In Sanskrit”
Ila is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 25,060 girls against 60 boys since 1880.
Three letters, two syllables, all vowels doing the work — Ila is the kind of name that takes less than a second to say and stays put. It has been on American records since the very beginning of national name-keeping, had a strong run in the early twentieth century, faded, and is now being handed out again to newborns. In Sanskrit texts the same spelling belongs to Ilā, a figure of the Puranas and a word for the earth itself.
How old is the name Ila?
Ila was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Ila alive today was born around 1930, making them about 95 years old. About 9,200 people named Ila are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ila most popular?
Ila peaked in 1903, reaching #237 nationally. Today it ranks #718, 481 places below that high. See the whole 1903 chart.
Ila appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Ila
The oldest thread is Indian: Ilā appears in Sanskrit literature both as a common noun for the earth and as a named figure in the Puranas, and the name remains in use across South Asia today. The American Ila is a different arrival, showing up in the earliest US birth records without a documented parent name — its neighbors in those registers are Ida, Ola, Ella and Ilah, and it behaves like one of that family. In Hungary, meanwhile, Ila developed independently as a short form of Ilona, the Hungarian Helen. Three roads, one spelling, and no need to choose between them.
Meaningscholars disagree
In Sanskrit, 'earth' — also 'speech' or 'flow'; the American name's route is a separate question
Two things share this spelling. Sanskrit Ilā is well documented, glossed as earth, speech, or flowing water, and borne by Ilā of the Puranas, child of Manu. The Ila that appears in nineteenth-century American records has no single settled source: it fits equally well as a clipped form of names ending in -ila (Camila, Priscilla, Ludmila), as a respelling of Ilah, and as the Hungarian pet form of Ilona. No one reading has won.
Pronouncing Ila
EYE-la
EYE-la is the usual American reading. EE-la is standard for the Sanskrit name and is common wherever the South Asian Ilā is known. Both are correct for their own line, so whichever you pick, expect to say it twice on first meeting.
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 1921623 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #237reached in 1903
- Change vs 2022
- −8.9%390 in 2025, from 428
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.
Ila in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- इला (Ilā) in Sanskrit / Hindi — transliteration
- Ila in Hungarian — related form
- Ilah in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Michigan.
Ilas among us
people named Ila are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 4,121 born in 2025 was named Ila
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Ila
- #718
- Ila on the 2025 chart
- #285
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Ila went to 390 girls in 2025, but Iyla, Iylah and Ilah and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 5 spellings went to 1,116, which makes it the 285th most-given girls’ name of the year — 433 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 1,440 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 4,121 for Ila 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
Ila is on its second act. Revived names age gently: the generation that wore them first is far enough away that the name feels classic rather than dated.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Ila is headed
Ila looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 21% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
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.
Ila beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Ila in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Three letters and two syllables: fast to write, fast to say, and it fits on any form without abbreviation.
- On US records continuously since national name-keeping began, so it is old rather than newly coined.
- In genuine use in more than one part of the world, including South Asia, where the spelling is long established.
- Short enough that it needs no nickname, which keeps the name a child is called and the name on the certificate the same.
- Two live pronunciations, EYE-la and EE-la. Neither is wrong, but you will be correcting people for years, and so will she.
- It sits very close to Isla, Ella, Ida and Ayla in both sight and sound, and phone calls and roll calls will occasionally deliver one of those instead.
- In capitals or certain sans-serif fonts, ILA and Ila can read as a lowercase L. Worth checking how it looks in whatever font your paperwork uses.
- In the US, most people carrying this name now belong to much older generations, so it may read as a grandmother's name to some ears — though the current rise among newborns is steadily changing that.
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What they receive
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Ila
Feminine · #718 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Ilas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 9,200 people named Ila are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Ila?
- Ila is one of 5 recorded spellings. Iyla is the more common one — 572 births in 2025 against 390 for Ila.
- How popular is the name Ila in 2025?
- Ila ranks #718 among US girl names in 2025, with 390 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Ila?
- About 1 in every 4,121 US girls born in 2025 was named Ila — 390 in all.
- Will my child share the name Ila with classmates?
- Ila will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Ila
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Macy#718 · Karsyn#718 · Remy#718 · Lennox#716 · Dayana#716 · Sol#722 · Samira#723 · Mckinley#712
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ila? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Ila and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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