Sila
Feminine · “reunion”
Sıla is the Turkish word for going home — specifically the reunion with a place or a person after a long absence, which Turkish names in a single word.
How old is the name Sila?
Sila first appears in US birth records in 1985 — 40 years ago. The typical Sila is a kid of about 7 — this name's wave is very recent. About 500 people named Sila are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Sila most popular?
Sila peaked in 2018, reaching #3559 nationally. Today it ranks #3903, 344 places below that high. See the whole 2018 chart.
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Sila
Turkish took sıla from Arabic and gave it a specific national weight: for the generation who went to Germany as guest workers from the 1960s, sıla meant the return to the village, and the word appears constantly in the songs of that migration. The name has been used in Turkey since. The Inuktitut sila is a separate and much deeper concept, naming the weather, the air and a governing principle at once.
Meaningscholars disagree
reunion, homecoming
Turkish sıla, borrowed from Arabic, names the reaching of a place or a person after separation, and sıla hasreti is homesickness. Separately Inuktitut sila names the sky, the weather and a broader idea of the world's breath. The two are unrelated.
Pronouncing Sila
SEE-lah
Two syllables, first stressed. The Turkish dotless ı is a vowel English does not have.
Nicknames for Sila
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
- 1985
- Most girls named
- 201843 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3559reached in 2018
- Change vs 2024
- +60.9%37 in 2025, from 23
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.
Sila in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Sıla in Turkish — same name
- Sila in Arabic — related form
- Sila in Inuktitut — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, California, Michigan.
Silas among us
people named Sila are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 43,440 born in 2025 was named Sila
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Sila
- #3903
- Sila on the 2025 chart
- #862
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Sila went to 37 girls in 2025, but Syla, Sylah and Cyla and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 6 spellings went to 98, which makes it the 862nd most-given girls’ name of the year — 3,041 places above the chart.
- Sila37
- Syla27
- Sylah12
- Cyla9
- Scylla7
- Silah6
About 1 girl in 16,401 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 43,440 for Sila 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 Onna test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Sila's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Onna climbed just as high around 1941, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Onna's path sketches the road Sila is walking now.
Sila 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 Sila is headed
Sila is easing off slowly — about 16% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Sila beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Sila in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled Turkish meaning with a genuinely specific and moving sense.
- Four letters and two syllables, about as easy to write as a name gets.
- Open vowels make it easy to say in most languages.
- The Turkish dotless ı is lost in American systems, which changes the vowel.
- Sila, Sela and Sheila are all close in an English ear.
- The Inuktitut word is a separate and significant concept, not a variant.
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What they receive
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Sila
Feminine · #3903 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Silas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Sila are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Sila?
- Sila is the most-used spelling in US records — 37 of the 98 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Syla, Sylah, Cyla, Scylla and Silah.
- How popular is the name Sila in 2025?
- Sila ranks #3903 among US girl names in 2025, with 37 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Sila?
- About 1 in every 43,440 US girls born in 2025 was named Sila — 37 in all.
- Will my child share the name Sila with classmates?
- Sila will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Sila
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Kay#3903 · Sonja#3903 · Truth#3903 · Gisela#3903 · Kaylene#3903 · Bronwyn#3903 · Cristal#3903 · Georgianna#3903
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Sila? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Sila and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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