Nalah
Feminine
Nalah stands near two real names — the Arabic Naila, one who attains, and the Sanskrit Nala, a king of the Mahabharata.
How old is the name Nalah?
Nalah first appears in US birth records in 1995 — 30 years ago. The typical Nalah is a kid of about 9 — this name's wave is very recent. About 1,000 people named Nalah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Nalah most popular?
Nalah peaked in 2020, reaching #2277 nationally. Today it ranks #4460, 2,183 places below that high. See the whole 2020 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Nalah
Ours, offered as ours. The story of Nala and Damayanti is one of the best-loved episodes in the Mahabharata: a king loses everything at dice, abandons his wife in the forest out of shame, and is eventually restored to her — and it has been retold in almost every Indian language for two thousand years. Nala there is a men's name. The Arabic Naila is a separate woman who attains. Nalah in American records probably comes from neither.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
Arabic naila is the feminine of one who attains. Sanskrit Nala is a king in the Mahabharata whose story is one of the epic's set pieces. Neither is documented as the source of this modern spelling.
Pronouncing Nalah
NAH-lah
Two syllables, first stressed. There is little variation.
Nicknames for Nalah
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
- 1995
- Most girls named
- 202078 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2277reached in 2020
- Change vs 2024
- −6.1%31 in 2025, from 33
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.
Nalah in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Naila in Arabic — related form
- Nala in Sanskrit — related form
- Nala in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Nalahs among us
people named Nalah are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 51,847 born in 2025 was named Nalah
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Nalah
- #4460
- Nalah on the 2025 chart
- #633
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Nalah went to 31 girls in 2025, but Nala is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 348, which makes it the 633rd most-given girls’ name of the year — 3,827 places above the chart.
- Nala317
- Nalah31
About 1 girl in 4,619 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 51,847 for Nalah 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 Yenifer test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Nalah's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Yenifer climbed just as high around 2000, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Yenifer's path sketches the road Nalah is walking now.
Nalah 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 Nalah is headed
Nalah is easing off slowly — about 26% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
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.
Nalah beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Nalah in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Five letters and two syllables, quick to write.
- Open vowels make it easy to say in most languages.
- Two genuinely substantial traditions stand nearby.
- A well-known animated film character is a strong association.
- Nalah, Nala and Naila are all in use and none is dominant.
- There is no documented meaning for this spelling.
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What they receive
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Nalah
Feminine · #4460 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Nalahs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Nalah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Nalah?
- Nalah is one of 2 recorded spellings. Nala is the more common one — 317 births in 2025 against 31 for Nalah.
- How popular is the name Nalah in 2025?
- Nalah ranks #4460 among US girl names in 2025, with 31 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Nalah?
- About 1 in every 51,847 US girls born in 2025 was named Nalah — 31 in all.
- Will my child share the name Nalah with classmates?
- Nalah will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Nalah
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Jayce#4460 · Nikita#4460 · Magali#4460 · Emari#4460 · Rilyn#4460 · Danyla#4460 · Lynleigh#4460 · Mandy#4460
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Nalah? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Nalah and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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