Ila
Ila was given to 390 girls in 2025, #718 among girls’ names; 25,120 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 8,730 Americans named Ila and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (35% of everyone recorded); the median is 18 years old and half are between 6 and 73.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Ila by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Ila mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Ila is “a female given name from Sanskrit used in India.”
Borrowed from Sanskrit इला (ilā).
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Ila?
#718 among girls’ names, 2025
Ila rose from #1,186 in 2015 to #718 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 0.12 to 0.24 per 1,000.
649 babies in 1925, the peak
Ila peaked in 1925, when 649 babies were given it (642 girls, #261 among girls’ names). The 390 births of 2025 are 60% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 390 | #718 | 0.24 |
| 2024 | 421 | #679 | 0.26 |
| 2023 | 480 | #622 | 0.30 |
| 2022 | 428 | #684 | 0.26 |
| 2021 | 377 | #760 | 0.23 |
| 2020 | 311 | #866 | 0.19 |
| 2019 | 249 | #1,032 | 0.15 |
| 2018 | 183 | #1,265 | 0.11 |
| 2017 | 230 | #1,100 | 0.13 |
| 2016 | 199 | #1,230 | 0.11 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 213 | #1,186 | 0.12 |
| 2014 | 203 | #1,199 | 0.11 |
| 2013 | 142 | #1,542 | 0.08 |
| 2012 | 150 | #1,498 | 0.09 |
| 2011 | 129 | #1,656 | 0.07 |
| 2010 | 155 | #1,458 | 0.09 |
| 2009 | 124 | #1,763 | 0.07 |
| 2008 | 109 | #1,934 | 0.06 |
| 2007 | 88 | #2,232 | 0.05 |
| 2006 | 90 | #2,155 | 0.05 |
| 2005 | 74 | #2,385 | 0.04 |
| 2004 | 60 | #2,718 | 0.03 |
| 2003 | 55 | #2,808 | 0.03 |
| 2002 | 43 | #3,256 | 0.02 |
| 2001 | 57 | #2,641 | 0.03 |
| 2000 | 38 | #3,472 | 0.02 |
| 1999 | 38 | #3,338 | 0.02 |
| 1998 | 25 | #4,412 | 0.01 |
| 1997 | 28 | #3,932 | 0.02 |
| 1996 | 30 | #3,663 | 0.02 |
| 1995 | 16 | #5,778 | 0.01 |
| 1994 | 25 | #4,156 | 0.01 |
| 1993 | 16 | #5,763 | 0.01 |
| 1992 | 19 | #5,120 | 0.01 |
| 1991 | 19 | #5,057 | 0.01 |
| 1990 | 24 | #4,152 | 0.01 |
| 1989 | 16 | #5,376 | 0.01 |
| 1988 | 17 | #4,916 | 0.01 |
| 1987 | 31 | #3,048 | 0.02 |
| 1986 | 20 | #4,080 | 0.01 |
| 1985 | 16 | #4,707 | 0.01 |
| 1984 | 29 | #3,011 | 0.02 |
| 1983 | 21 | #3,725 | 0.01 |
| 1982 | 24 | #3,453 | 0.01 |
| 1981 | 23 | #3,557 | 0.01 |
| 1980 | 28 | #3,087 | 0.02 |
| 1979 | 33 | #2,689 | 0.02 |
| 1978 | 27 | #2,963 | 0.02 |
| 1977 | 30 | #2,738 | 0.02 |
| 1976 | 25 | #2,953 | 0.02 |
| 1975 | 32 | #2,477 | 0.02 |
| 1974 | 26 | #2,784 | 0.02 |
| 1973 | 23 | #2,941 | 0.02 |
| 1972 | 27 | #2,623 | 0.02 |
| 1971 | 35 | #2,265 | 0.02 |
| 1970 | 24 | #2,880 | 0.01 |
| 1969 | 41 | #1,964 | 0.02 |
| 1968 | 36 | #2,007 | 0.02 |
| 1967 | 49 | #1,623 | 0.03 |
| 1966 | 42 | #1,746 | 0.02 |
| 1965 | 36 | #1,926 | 0.02 |
| 1964 | 55 | #1,540 | 0.03 |
| 1963 | 49 | #1,631 | 0.03 |
| 1962 | 70 | #1,327 | 0.04 |
| 1961 | 72 | #1,307 | 0.04 |
| 1960 | 57 | #1,458 | 0.03 |
| 1959 | 73 | #1,257 | 0.04 |
| 1958 | 89 | #1,123 | 0.04 |
| 1957 | 94 | #1,076 | 0.05 |
| 1956 | 83 | #1,133 | 0.04 |
| 1955 | 87 | #1,084 | 0.04 |
| 1954 | 81 | #1,095 | 0.04 |
| 1953 | 137 | #781 | 0.07 |
| 1952 | 144 | #738 | 0.08 |
| 1951 | 112 | #846 | 0.06 |
| 1950 | 133 | #747 | 0.08 |
| 1949 | 123 | #778 | 0.07 |
| 1948 | 143 | #697 | 0.08 |
| 1947 | 183 | #622 | 0.10 |
| 1946 | 147 | #653 | 0.09 |
| 1945 | 151 | #595 | 0.12 |
| 1944 | 172 | #554 | 0.13 |
| 1943 | 189 | #546 | 0.14 |
| 1942 | 229 | #493 | 0.17 |
| 1941 | 217 | #475 | 0.18 |
| 1940 | 212 | #460 | 0.19 |
| 1939 | 247 | #429 | 0.23 |
| 1938 | 299 | #388 | 0.27 |
| 1937 | 320 | #362 | 0.30 |
| 1936 | 310 | #359 | 0.30 |
| 1935 | 312 | #360 | 0.30 |
| 1934 | 367 | #326 | 0.35 |
| 1933 | 379 | #320 | 0.38 |
| 1932 | 427 | #305 | 0.40 |
| 1931 | 427 | #308 | 0.40 |
| 1930 | 451 | #312 | 0.40 |
| 1929 | 481 | #302 | 0.43 |
| 1928 | 524 | #286 | 0.45 |
| 1927 | 531 | #291 | 0.45 |
| 1926 | 487 | #303 | 0.41 |
| 1925 | 642 | #261 | 0.53 |
| 1924 | 577 | #275 | 0.46 |
| 1923 | 524 | #282 | 0.43 |
| 1922 | 576 | #270 | 0.48 |
| 1921 | 623 | #265 | 0.51 |
| 1920 | 561 | #274 | 0.47 |
| 1919 | 549 | #271 | 0.49 |
| 1918 | 564 | #269 | 0.49 |
| 1917 | 494 | #277 | 0.46 |
| 1916 | 513 | #267 | 0.49 |
| 1915 | 451 | #278 | 0.46 |
| 1914 | 376 | #267 | 0.49 |
| 1913 | 279 | #282 | 0.45 |
| 1912 | 274 | #271 | 0.49 |
| 1911 | 243 | #250 | 0.58 |
| 1910 | 199 | #275 | 0.50 |
| 1909 | 200 | #253 | 0.58 |
| 1908 | 196 | #248 | 0.59 |
| 1907 | 162 | #273 | 0.51 |
| 1906 | 146 | #277 | 0.49 |
| 1905 | 166 | #250 | 0.57 |
| 1904 | 143 | #264 | 0.52 |
| 1903 | 160 | #237 | 0.61 |
| 1902 | 154 | #248 | 0.58 |
| 1901 | 138 | #244 | 0.58 |
| 1900 | 177 | #241 | 0.59 |
| 1899 | 113 | #269 | 0.48 |
| 1898 | 114 | #288 | 0.44 |
| 1897 | 119 | #260 | 0.51 |
| 1896 | 126 | #254 | 0.53 |
| 1895 | 97 | #286 | 0.42 |
| 1894 | 112 | #259 | 0.50 |
| 1893 | 97 | #272 | 0.46 |
| 1892 | 93 | #277 | 0.44 |
| 1891 | 72 | #295 | 0.39 |
| 1890 | 63 | #318 | 0.33 |
| 1889 | 54 | #338 | 0.30 |
| 1888 | 49 | #343 | 0.27 |
| 1887 | 43 | #326 | 0.29 |
| 1886 | 45 | #313 | 0.31 |
| 1885 | 42 | #314 | 0.32 |
| 1884 | 29 | #372 | 0.22 |
| 1883 | 32 | #315 | 0.28 |
| 1882 | 25 | #352 | 0.23 |
| 1881 | 20 | #378 | 0.22 |
| 1880 | 15 | #438 | 0.16 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Ila a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Ila has been given almost only to girls: 60 boys in 146 years of records.
Girls and boys named Ila: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Ila, and how old are they?
8,730 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 35% of the 25,120 Americans ever recorded as Ila. The median Ila alive today is 18 years old; half are between 6 and 73.
The 2020 Census counted 8,057 people named Ila (7,985 women and girls, 72 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 7,949 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 1,360 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,450 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 475 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 336 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,250 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 3,800 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Ila born?
The states with the most babies named Ila are Texas, North Carolina and Michigan, with 23% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 1,682 | #845 | 1.1× |
| North Carolina | 1,231 | #671 | 1.6× |
| Michigan | 1,028 | #572 | 1.3× |
| Alabama | 932 | #405 | 1.6× |
| California | 788 | #1,291 | 0.6× |
| Ohio | 785 | #627 | 0.7× |
| Iowa | 779 | #264 | 2.0× |
| Oklahoma | 737 | not ranked | 1.7× |
| Illinois | 679 | #1,055 | 0.6× |
| Georgia | 630 | #764 | 0.9× |
Where Ila is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Ila is most over-represented in Utah: since 1910 it was given 2.9 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Ila with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 45,263 babies since 1880, Ila is the most given (55% of them). In 2025 it was given to 390 of their 1,181 babies (33%), the second most given that year.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Ila
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Ila and names like it
- Compare Ila and IolaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sIla peaked in 1925.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Ila since 1910.
- Sanskrit namesWiktionary’s origin for Ila: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1925The year the most babies were named Ila.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Ila alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with IMost given first.