Ilah
Feminine
Ilah is an American name of the turn of the last century with no agreed source, and it sits uncomfortably close to a very significant Arabic word. Ilah in Arabic means a god — it is the ilah of la ilaha illa Allah.
How old is the name Ilah?
Ilah first appears in US birth records in 1891 — 134 years ago. The typical Ilah alive today was born around 1935, making them about 90 years old. About 800 people named Ilah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ilah most popular?
Ilah peaked in 1907, reaching #898 nationally. Today it ranks #3028, 2,130 places below that high. See the whole 1907 chart.
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Ilah
Our story of Ilah belongs to a moment in American naming that the reference books mostly skip. Around the turn of the twentieth century, families across the middle of the country produced a large number of short women's names built on open vowels — Ila, Ilah, Iva, Ina, Ova, Ada, Ida — and most of them have no ancestor anyone can name. They were made by ear, in a period when making a name was an entirely ordinary thing to do. The books file them as origin unknown, which is accurate and rather misses the point: they were invented, deliberately, by people who liked the sound.
Meaningnot established
Not established
No source is established for the American name. It appears in United States records around the turn of the twentieth century alongside Ila, Ida, Iva and Ina — a cluster of short vowel-heavy women's names of that period, most of them without documented origins. Arabic ilah means a deity and is the word in the declaration of faith; the two names are almost certainly unconnected, and it is worth knowing the collision exists.
Pronouncing Ilah
EYE-lah
Two syllables, stress on the first, the opening rhyming with eye. EE-lah, with a long e, is also heard; the Arabic word at the same spelling is said ih-LAH with the stress at the end.
Nicknames for Ilah
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
- 1891
- Most girls named
- 202059 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #898reached in 1907
- Change vs 2023
- −1.8%54 in 2025, from 55
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.
Ilah in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ila in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Ilahs among us
people named Ilah are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 29,764 born in 2025 was named Ilah
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Ilah
- #3028
- Ilah on the 2025 chart
- #285
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Ilah went to 54 girls in 2025, but Iyla, Ila and Iylah 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 — 2,743 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 1,440 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 29,764 for Ilah 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
Ilah 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 Ilah is headed
Ilah 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.
Ilah beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Ilah 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, and easy for a small child to write.
- A long American record rather than a recent construction.
- Short and open, which pairs well with a long or complicated surname.
- Its origin is genuinely unrecorded, so any meaning offered for it is invented.
- In Arabic the same spelling is the word for a god, which Arabic speakers will notice.
- Ilah, Ila and Isla all circulate and get confused in speech and writing.
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What they receive
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Ilah
Feminine · #3028 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Ilahs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Ilah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Ilah?
- Ilah is one of 5 recorded spellings. Iyla is the more common one — 572 births in 2025 against 54 for Ilah.
- How popular is the name Ilah in 2025?
- Ilah ranks #3028 among US girl names in 2025, with 54 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Ilah?
- About 1 in every 29,764 US girls born in 2025 was named Ilah — 54 in all.
- Will my child share the name Ilah with classmates?
- Ilah will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Ilah
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Minnie#3028 · Boston#3028 · Joann#3028 · Alethea#3028 · Mallie#3028 · Auria#3028 · Adria#3028 · Daila#3028
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ilah? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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