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Nailah

Feminine · “attainer”

1971high 2018
#1818 in the U.S.stepping back from its peak
falling110 girls in 2025

Nailah is one who attains, in Arabic — from nala, to obtain — so the name says of its bearer that she reaches what she goes for.

How old is the name Nailah?

Nailah first appears in US birth records in 1971 — 54 years ago. The typical Nailah alive today was born around 2011, making them about 14 years old. About 4,800 people named Nailah are estimated to be alive in the US today.

When was the name Nailah most popular?

Nailah peaked in 2018, reaching #1014 nationally. Today it ranks #1818, 804 places below that high. See the whole 2018 chart.

Compare this nameMore “N” names

Lists built from the same records:

I

Where it comes from

The story of Nailah

Na'ila bint al-Farafisa was the wife of the caliph Uthman and lost fingers shielding him when he was killed in 656; the bloodied garment became a rallying object in the civil war that followed. The name is used across the Arabic-speaking world and in African-American naming from the 1970s. It is in current use.

Meaning

attainer, one who achieves

From the Arabic na'ilah, the feminine of na'il, 'one who attains', from nala, 'to obtain' or 'to reach'. The word is ordinary Arabic and the meaning undisputed. Claims of a Gaelic or Sanskrit origin are not supported for this name.

How the name formed

  1. nala
  2. na'ilah
  3. Nailah

Related forms: نائلة · Naila · Naila

Pronouncing Nailah

NY-lah

Two syllables, stress on the first. Arabic na'ilah has a glottal stop in the middle that English drops entirely.

Nicknames for Nailah

Moderate

NaiThe front sound alone, used inside families rather than generally
LailaA near-homophone from a different family, often substituted
II

What the data says

The long climb, and where it stands now

GIRLS NAMED · 1971–2025256128025611019712025

US babies named Nailah per year from 1971 to 2025
AVERAGE RANK BY DECADE#1#10#100#1000#10141970s2020s

The same years in position rather than babies

First recorded
1971
Most girls named
2018256 — the highest on record
Peak rank
#1014reached in 2018
Change vs 2024
−1.8%110 in 2025, from 112
Nailah is past its biggest year. The count topped out at 256 girls in 2018 and has eased 57% since — the slow half of a naming cycle, where a name stays familiar while getting steadily less common. The move since 2024: down 1.8%.

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.

Nailah in other languages

The same name elsewhere

  • نائلة in Arabic — transliteration
  • Naila in English — spelling variant
  • Naila in Urdu — same name

Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, Florida, Texas.

Nailahs among us

4,800

people named Nailah are estimated to be alive in the US today

About 1 girl in 14,612 born in 2025 was named Nailah

Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method

Spellings of Nailah

#1818
Nailah on the 2025 chart
#521
counting every spelling

The SSA counts spellings, not names. Nailah went to 110 girls in 2025, but Nayla, Naila and Naylah are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 493, which makes it the 521st most-given girls’ name of the year — 1,297 places above the chart.

About 1 girl in 3,260 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 14,612 for Nailah 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

III

Is it right for you

The Niya test

Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Nailah's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Niya climbed just as high around 2001, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Niya's path sketches the road Nailah is walking now.

40%chance Nailah will feel “very 2010s” by 2040
Nailah, aligned on its peakNiya· peak 2001not yet written
#1#10#100#1000peak-40 yrs+20 yrsNiya · #2138Nailah today
Nailah today is about where Niya stood in 2008 — 7 years past a #1014-sized peak. By 2023, Niya had settled around #2138.
Ages quietlysteadyDates fast

Nailah 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 Nailah is headed

19712030

US babies named Nailah per year, 1971 to 2025, with a projection to 2030

Nailah is easing off slowly — about 23% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.

Cooling-23% by 2030projected around #2,285 in 2030

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.

Nailah beside its neighbors

The names ranked closest to Nailah in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.

Nailahthis name110#1818Story110#1818Lotus110#1818Kailyn110#1818Jaisley110#1818

US girls given each name in 2025.

The trade-off

Practical strengths
  • The attainer meaning is transparent, undisputed and unusually purposeful.
  • It is used across Arabic, Urdu and African-American naming.
  • Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk in English.
What to consider
  • Naila without the h is an equally established spelling.
  • Layla and Nayla are close enough to cause confusion.
  • The Arabic glottal stop is lost in English.

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Nailah

Feminine · #1818 in the U.S.

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Frequently asked

How many Nailahs are there in the world?
No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 4,800 people named Nailah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
How do you spell Nailah?
Nailah is one of 4 recorded spellings. Nayla is the more common one — 225 births in 2025 against 110 for Nailah.
How popular is the name Nailah in 2025?
Nailah ranks #1818 among US girl names in 2025, with 110 babies given the name.
How rare is the name Nailah?
About 1 in every 14,612 US girls born in 2025 was named Nailah — 110 in all.
Will my child share the name Nailah with classmates?
Nailah will almost certainly be the only one in school.

Ranked beside Nailah

Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.

Story#1818 · Lotus#1818 · Kailyn#1818 · Jaisley#1818 · Adah#1818 · Belinda#1818 · Winsley#1818 · Saraya#1818

Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Nailah? See the current top 100.

Choosing between Nailah and another name?

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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology

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