Rilla
Feminine · “golden”
Latin aurum, gold, is hiding in an English bird. The golden oriole was aureolus, little golden one, and the halo around a saint's head in a painting is an aureole from the same word. Aurelia is the woman's name built on it, and Rilla is what is left when the front falls off.
How old is the name Rilla?
Rilla was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Rilla alive today was born around 1920, making them about 105 years old. About 700 people named Rilla are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Rilla most popular?
Rilla peaked in 1881, reaching #360 nationally. Today it ranks #11932, 11,572 places below that high. See the whole 1881 chart.
Where it comes from
From aurum to Rilla
The story of Rilla
Aurum is the Latin for gold and it left more in English than the chemical symbol. An aureole is a golden ring, which is why a halo is one. The oriole is named for its color, from aureolus, and so is the mineral aurite. The Roman family name Aurelius belonged to an emperor, and its feminine Aurelia was ordinary in Rome and stayed in use in Italy. English speakers shortened it from the front, the way they do, and Rilla was given alone in nineteenth-century America. It got a second life in fiction: the last of the Anne of Green Gables books is about Anne's youngest daughter, Rilla, and is one of the few novels written about the First World War from the home front while it was still recent.
Meaningscholars disagree
golden
Usually taken as a short form of Aurelia, from Latin aurum, gold, through the Roman family name Aurelius. It may also be the tail of Amarilla or Armilla. All three are Latin and all three lose their front in speech, which is what produced this name.
How the name formed
- aurum
- Aurelia
- Rilla
Related forms: Aurelia
Pronouncing Rilla
RIL-uh
Two syllables, stress on the first, with a short i. There is nothing ambiguous in the spelling, which is unusual for a name this old and this rare.
Nicknames for Rilla
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 191456 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #360reached in 1881
- Change vs 2023
- −12.5%7 in 2025, from 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.
Rilla in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Aurelia in Italian — related form
Rillas among us
people named Rilla are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 229,610 born in 2025 was named Rilla
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Rilla
- #11932
- Rilla on the 2025 chart
- #826
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Rilla went to 7 girls in 2025, but Ryla, Rylah and Rilah are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 134, which makes it the 826th most-given girls’ name of the year — 11,106 places above the chart.
- Ryla91
- Rylah27
- Rilah9
- Rilla7
About 1 girl in 11,995 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 229,610 for Rilla 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
Fashion outlook
Rilla 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
Rilla beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Rilla in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled Latin root with several visible English descendants.
- Two syllables and five letters, with nothing to explain.
- Aurelia is available as a formal version with a two-thousand-year record.
- It is strongly represented among the very oldest generations and reads clearly as of that time.
- It is also an English word for a small stream, and the resemblance to gorilla will occur to children.
- Most people will assume it is short for something and will ask.
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What they receive
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Rilla
Feminine · #11932 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Rillas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Rilla are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Rilla?
- Rilla is one of 4 recorded spellings. Ryla is the more common one — 91 births in 2025 against 7 for Rilla.
- How popular is the name Rilla in 2025?
- Rilla ranks #11932 among US girl names in 2025, with 7 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Rilla?
- About 1 in every 229,610 US girls born in 2025 was named Rilla — 7 in all.
- Will my child share the name Rilla with classmates?
- Rilla will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Rilla
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Vina#11932 · Retta#11932 · Missouri#11932 · Iola#11932 · Eddie#11932 · Thomas#11932 · Louetta#11932 · Elvina#11932
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Rilla? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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