Milana
Feminine · Slavic roots · “dear”
Milana is the feminine of Milan, a name Slavic families have used for centuries, built on the old root that means dear or gracious. It carries the same open vowels that make Mila and Lana feel familiar to English speakers, and it shortens into both of them without effort. In American records it is a recent arrival that found its footing only in the last couple of decades, still concentrated in California, New York and Florida.
How old is the name Milana?
Milana first appears in US birth records in 1947 — 78 years ago. The typical Milana is a kid of about 10 — this name's wave is very recent. About 7,000 people named Milana are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Milana most popular?
Milana peaked in 2015, reaching #678 nationally. Today it ranks #812, 134 places below that high. See the whole 2015 chart.
Milana appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From mil- (Slavic root: dear, gracious) to Milana
The story of Milana
The root mil- runs through Slavic naming like a thread: it gave Milan to boys and Milana, Milena and Milica to girls, across Serbian, Croatian, Czech, Slovak, Russian and Ukrainian usage. Milana is the straightforward feminine of Milan, and it has long been at home from the Balkans to the Caucasus, where it is widely used among Chechen and Russian families. It reached American birth records in the middle of the twentieth century and stayed quiet there for decades before Slavic and post-Soviet immigration, and the broader American taste for Mila and Lana, brought it forward. Its strongest American footholds are the states where those communities are largest.
Meaning
dear, gracious, kind
From the Slavic root mil-, 'dear' or 'gracious', the same element behind Milan, Milena, Milica and Ludmila. The resemblance to the Italian city of Milan is coincidence — that name comes from Latin Mediolanum, by a completely separate road.
How the name formed
- mil-Slavic root: dear, gracious
- Milan
- Milana
Related forms: Милана (Milana) · Milana · Мілана (Milana) · Milena · Milena · Милена (Milena)
Pronouncing Milana
mee-LAH-nah
The Slavic pronunciation puts the weight on the middle syllable: mee-LAH-nah. Many American speakers say mih-LAH-nuh, softening the first and last vowels. Both are in real use, so it is worth deciding early which one you will correct people toward.
Nicknames for Milana
High
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
- 1947
- Most girls named
- 2015421 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #678reached in 2015
- Change vs 2024
- −6.7%336 in 2025, from 360
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.
Milana in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Милана (Milana) in Russian — transliteration
- Milana in Serbian / Croatian — same name
- Мілана (Milana) in Ukrainian — transliteration
- Milena in Czech / Slovak — related form
- Milena in Polish — related form
- Милена (Milena) in Bulgarian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Florida.
Milanas among us
people named Milana are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 4,784 born in 2025 was named Milana
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Odalys test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Milana's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Odalys climbed just as high around 1996, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Odalys's path sketches the road Milana is walking now.
Milana 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 Milana is headed
Milana 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.
Milana beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Milana in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Comes with two short forms, Mila and Lana, that Americans already know as standalone names — no explanation needed.
- Spelled the way it sounds: three simple syllables, no silent letters, no unusual clusters.
- Used across Serbian, Croatian, Russian, Ukrainian and Chechen naming as well as English, so it travels without translation.
- Belongs to a large, old family of Slavic names — Milan, Milena, Milica, Ludmila — all sharing the same root.
- It sits very close to Milena, Melania and Milania. Expect to spell it out often, and to catch the occasional wrong version on paperwork.
- The stress is unsettled in American mouths — mee-LAH-nah among Slavic speakers, mih-LAH-nuh elsewhere. Your child will hear both and will end up choosing.
- This is a genuinely uncommon name here; most classmates will not have met another. That means no last-initial problem, and also a lifetime of being the person who says it twice.
- Because Mila is so much more common in the US, some people will assume Milana is a variant of it rather than the older, fuller name it actually is.
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What they receive
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Milana
Feminine · Slavic roots · #812 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Milanas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 7,000 people named Milana are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Milana in 2025?
- Milana ranks #812 among US girl names in 2025, with 336 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Milana?
- About 1 in every 4,784 US girls born in 2025 was named Milana — 336 in all.
- Will my child share the name Milana with classmates?
- Milana will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Milana
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Naya#812 · Charleigh#811 · Kelsey#814 · Quincy#814 · Jenesis#816 · Brynleigh#807 · Aura#817 · Romi#817
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Milana? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Milana and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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