Nilah
Feminine · “blue”
Nilah stands close to the Sanskrit nila, blue — the color of the sapphire and of several deities — and also to the Arabic nil, which names the indigo plant and the river.
How old is the name Nilah?
Nilah first appears in US birth records in 1916 — 109 years ago. The typical Nilah is a kid of about 12 — this name's wave is very recent. About 1,300 people named Nilah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Nilah most popular?
Nilah peaked in 2012, reaching #2232 nationally. Today it ranks #3712, 1,480 places below that high. See the whole 2012 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Nilah
Ours, offered as ours. Two languages meet at this sound by way of a plant. Sanskrit nila names the color blue and the indigo that produces it; the same dye was traded west, and Arabic nil names it too. The Greeks called the river Neilos, which may or may not be connected. Nilah in American records is almost certainly a modern construction, but the neighborhood is a genuinely old and well-traveled one, and worth naming instead of a guess.
Meaningscholars disagree
blue, dark blue
Sanskrit nila is blue or dark and names the sapphire and the indigo plant; Arabic nil is indigo and gives the river Nile its name through Greek. Whether the modern American Nilah descends from either or is built from the Ni- and -lah pieces of current naming is not documented.
Pronouncing Nilah
NY-lah
Two syllables, first stressed. Some families say NEE-lah, following the Sanskrit.
Nicknames for Nilah
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
- 1916
- Most girls named
- 201284 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2232reached in 2012
- Change vs 2024
- +33.3%40 in 2025, from 30
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.
Nilah in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Nila in Sanskrit — related form
- Nil in Arabic — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, North Carolina, Florida.
Nilahs among us
people named Nilah are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 40,182 born in 2025 was named Nilah
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Nilah
- #3712
- Nilah on the 2025 chart
- #147
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Nilah went to 40 girls in 2025, but Nyla, Nylah and Nila and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 7 spellings went to 2,115, which makes it the 147th most-given girls’ name of the year — 3,565 places above the chart.
and 1 rarer spelling.
About 1 girl in 760 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 40,182 for Nilah 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 Joelene test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Nilah's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Joelene climbed just as high around 1975, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Joelene's path sketches the road Nilah is walking now.
Nilah 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 Nilah is headed
Nilah is easing off slowly — about 22% 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.
Nilah beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Nilah 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.
- Nila is a complete name in Indian use and stands behind it.
- Open vowels make it easy to say in most languages.
- The first vowel is unsettled between NY and NEE.
- Nilah, Nila and Nylah 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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Nilah
Feminine · #3712 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Nilahs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,300 people named Nilah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Nilah?
- Nilah is one of 6 recorded spellings. Nyla is the more common one — 1,315 births in 2025 against 40 for Nilah.
- How popular is the name Nilah in 2025?
- Nilah ranks #3712 among US girl names in 2025, with 40 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Nilah?
- About 1 in every 40,182 US girls born in 2025 was named Nilah — 40 in all.
- Will my child share the name Nilah with classmates?
- Nilah will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Nilah
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Monet#3712 · Barrett#3712 · October#3712 · Aubrianna#3712 · Mishka#3712 · Berkleigh#3712 · Zailey#3712 · Ora#3712
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Nilah? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Nilah and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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