Islah
Feminine · “reform”
Islah is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 596 girls against 5 boys since 1880.
Islah is Arabic for putting something right — reform, repair, reconciliation between people who have fallen out. It is one word covering all three, and Arabic treats them as the same activity.
How old is the name Islah?
Islah first appears in US birth records in 1977 — 48 years ago. The typical Islah is a kid of about 5 — this name's wave is very recent. About 600 people named Islah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Islah most popular?
Islah peaked in 2020, reaching #2468 nationally. Today it ranks #2998, 530 places below that high. See the whole 2020 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From islah to Islah
The story of Islah
The root s-l-h is central to Islamic ethical vocabulary, and islah appears in the Qur'an in the sense of setting right between people — the Prophet is described as sent for it. The word became the name of nineteenth and twentieth-century reform movements across the Muslim world, which gave it a public as well as a personal sense. As a given name it is used for daughters in Pakistan, Bangladesh and among Muslim families in Britain and America, and its American record is recent.
Meaning
reform; setting right, reconciliation
Arabic islah comes from the root s-l-h, which carries soundness and being in good order; the same root gives salih, 'righteous', and the name Salah. Islah is the verbal noun: the act of making something good again, used of mending a machine, reforming a society and reconciling two people alike. The reading is documented and undisputed.
How the name formed
- islah
- Islah
Related forms: Islah · Islah · Islah
Pronouncing Islah
iss-LAH
Two syllables with the stress on the second in Arabic, where the s is emphatic and the h at the end is sounded. English speakers say EYE-luh, reading it as the Scottish Isla, which is a different name entirely.
Nicknames for Islah
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
- 1977
- Most girls named
- 202070 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2468reached in 2020
- Change vs 2024
- +57.1%55 in 2025, from 35
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.
Islah in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Islah in Arabic — transliteration
- Islah in Urdu — same name
- Islah in Turkish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Florida, California.
Islahs among us
people named Islah are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 29,223 born in 2025 was named Islah
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Islah
- #2998
- Islah on the 2025 chart
- #31
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Islah went to 55 girls in 2025, but Isla is the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 6,075, which makes it the 31st most-given girls’ name of the year — 2,967 places above the chart.
- Isla6,012
- Islah55
and 1 rarer spelling.
About 1 girl in 265 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 29,223 for Islah 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 Kyia test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Islah's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Kyia climbed just as high around 2002, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Kyia's path sketches the road Islah is walking now.
Islah 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 Islah is headed
Islah is easing off slowly — about 31% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Islah beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Islah in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented meaning that names an activity rather than a quality, which is unusual.
- Five letters, no silent ones in Arabic, and readable at first sight.
- Recognized across the Arabic-speaking and Muslim world without explanation.
- English speakers will read it as the Scottish Isla and say it that way.
- The final h is fully sounded in Arabic and silent in the English misreading.
- Islah and Isla are separate names from unrelated languages and get confused constantly.
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What they receive
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Islah
Feminine · #2998 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Islahs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Islah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Islah?
- Islah is one of 2 recorded spellings. Isla is the more common one — 6,012 births in 2025 against 55 for Islah.
- How popular is the name Islah in 2025?
- Islah ranks #2998 among US girl names in 2025, with 55 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Islah?
- About 1 in every 29,223 US girls born in 2025 was named Islah — 55 in all.
- Will my child share the name Islah with classmates?
- Islah will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Islah
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Imara#2998 · Aniston#2998 · Hilda#2998 · Leiana#2998 · Amna#2998 · Halia#2998 · Kassie#2998 · Alize#2998
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Islah? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Islah and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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