Kalila
Feminine · “beloved friend”
Kalila is a beloved friend, and the Arabic word carries more weight than English friendship does. Khalil is the title given to Abraham — the friend of God — and it names a bond closer than kinship.
How old is the name Kalila?
Kalila first appears in US birth records in 1977 — 48 years ago. The typical Kalila is a kid of about 11 — this name's wave is very recent. About 1,200 people named Kalila are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kalila most popular?
Kalila peaked in 2019, reaching #2593 nationally. Today it ranks #3100, 507 places below that high. See the whole 2019 chart.
Where it comes from
From khalila to Kalila
The story of Kalila
The Arabic root kh-l-l gives words for intimacy and for being intermingled, and khalil is the friend one has let all the way in. Abraham's title made it a word with religious weight. Separately, Kalila wa-Dimna is one of the great books of Arabic literature — a collection of animal fables translated from Persian and ultimately from the Sanskrit Panchatantra — in which Kalila is one of the two jackals who tell the stories. The name reaches United States records both from Arabic-speaking families and through that book.
Meaning
beloved friend; intimate companion
Arabic khalil means a close friend, and khalila is its feminine. The word describes a friendship of the deepest kind: Abraham is called Khalil Allah, the friend of God, and the city of Hebron is called al-Khalil for him. The reading is documented and undisputed. The k spelling here softens the Arabic kh, a throat sound English does not have.
How the name formed
- khalila
- Kalila
Related forms: Khalila · Khalila · Halile
Pronouncing Kalila
kah-LEE-lah
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. Arabic begins it with kh, a throat sound as in Bach, which the k spelling replaces with a plain k — the usual English simplification.
Nicknames for Kalila
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
- 201967 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2593reached in 2019
- Change vs 2024
- +23.8%52 in 2025, from 42
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.
Kalila in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Khalila in Arabic — transliteration
- Khalila in Urdu — same name
- Halile in Turkish — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Kalilas among us
people named Kalila are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 30,909 born in 2025 was named Kalila
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kalila
- #3100
- Kalila on the 2025 chart
- #702
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kalila went to 52 girls in 2025, but Kalilah, Khalilah and Khalyla and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 8 spellings went to 263, which makes it the 702nd most-given girls’ name of the year — 2,398 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 6,111 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 30,909 for Kalila 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 Dezaray test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kalila's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Dezaray climbed just as high around 2000, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Dezaray's path sketches the road Kalila is walking now.
Kalila 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 Kalila is headed
Kalila 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.
Kalila beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kalila 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 describing a specific and profound kind of friendship.
- Kali and Lila are both natural short forms and both are established names.
- Every sound in it is easy in English once the kh is simplified.
- The Arabic opening is a throat sound that the k spelling does not record.
- Kalila, Khalila, Kaleela and Kalilah all circulate and none is standard here.
- It sits close to Kamila and Layla in English speech and gets misheard as both.
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What they receive
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Kalila
Feminine · #3100 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kalilas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,200 people named Kalila are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kalila?
- Kalila is one of 8 recorded spellings. Kalilah is the more common one — 123 births in 2025 against 52 for Kalila.
- How popular is the name Kalila in 2025?
- Kalila ranks #3100 among US girl names in 2025, with 52 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kalila?
- About 1 in every 30,909 US girls born in 2025 was named Kalila — 52 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kalila with classmates?
- Kalila will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kalila
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Yatziri#3100 · Clarice#3100 · Alanie#3100 · Ellora#3100 · Grayson#3100 · Lainie#3100 · Brady#3100 · Addalynn#3100
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kalila? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kalila and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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
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