Ilana
Ilana was given to 71 girls in 2025, #2,496 among girls’ names; 5,678 Americans have been recorded with it since 1946 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 5,520 Americans named Ilana and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (97% of everyone recorded); the median is 29 years old and half are between 17 and 40.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Ilana by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Ilana mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Ilana is “a female given name, variant of Alana”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Ilana?
#2,496 among girls’ names, 2025
Ilana fell from #2,267 in 2015 to #2,496 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 46.5 to 44.2 per million.
135 babies in 1992, the peak
Ilana peaked in 1992, when 135 girls were given it, #1,265 among girls’ names. The 71 births of 2025 are 53% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 71 | #2,496 | 44.2 |
| 2024 | 74 | #2,446 | 45.7 |
| 2023 | 81 | #2,277 | 50.5 |
| 2022 | 85 | #2,216 | 51.8 |
| 2021 | 108 | #1,852 | 65.8 |
| 2020 | 81 | #2,227 | 50.1 |
| 2019 | 82 | #2,240 | 48.9 |
| 2018 | 77 | #2,369 | 45.3 |
| 2017 | 96 | #2,046 | 55.6 |
| 2016 | 89 | #2,176 | 50.2 |
Every recorded year (76)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 83 | #2,267 | 46.5 |
| 2014 | 92 | #2,105 | 51.5 |
| 2013 | 88 | #2,141 | 50.1 |
| 2012 | 75 | #2,459 | 42.6 |
| 2011 | 98 | #2,005 | 55.7 |
| 2010 | 88 | #2,207 | 49.5 |
| 2009 | 85 | #2,294 | 46.3 |
| 2008 | 109 | #1,935 | 57.6 |
| 2007 | 124 | #1,748 | 64.5 |
| 2006 | 129 | #1,644 | 67.9 |
| 2005 | 119 | #1,674 | 64.4 |
| 2004 | 127 | #1,556 | 69.2 |
| 2003 | 128 | #1,522 | 70.1 |
| 2002 | 101 | #1,783 | 56.2 |
| 2001 | 108 | #1,674 | 60.0 |
| 2000 | 118 | #1,534 | 65.0 |
| 1999 | 130 | #1,360 | 73.3 |
| 1998 | 116 | #1,473 | 65.6 |
| 1997 | 131 | #1,319 | 75.3 |
| 1996 | 125 | #1,350 | 71.3 |
| 1995 | 119 | #1,380 | 67.7 |
| 1994 | 116 | #1,394 | 65.0 |
| 1993 | 102 | #1,530 | 56.4 |
| 1992 | 135 | #1,265 | 73.2 |
| 1991 | 112 | #1,426 | 59.7 |
| 1990 | 125 | #1,297 | 65.8 |
| 1989 | 125 | #1,257 | 67.8 |
| 1988 | 119 | #1,245 | 66.8 |
| 1987 | 123 | #1,184 | 70.7 |
| 1986 | 112 | #1,227 | 65.3 |
| 1985 | 98 | #1,341 | 56.9 |
| 1984 | 91 | #1,336 | 54.0 |
| 1983 | 101 | #1,247 | 60.5 |
| 1982 | 88 | #1,386 | 52.0 |
| 1981 | 97 | #1,306 | 58.2 |
| 1980 | 78 | #1,518 | 47.0 |
| 1979 | 87 | #1,412 | 54.2 |
| 1978 | 85 | #1,379 | 55.5 |
| 1977 | 73 | #1,503 | 47.6 |
| 1976 | 61 | #1,622 | 41.6 |
| 1975 | 62 | #1,592 | 42.5 |
| 1974 | 59 | #1,603 | 40.2 |
| 1973 | 46 | #1,843 | 31.5 |
| 1972 | 31 | #2,366 | 20.4 |
| 1971 | 38 | #2,147 | 22.8 |
| 1970 | 38 | #2,134 | 21.7 |
| 1969 | 49 | #1,741 | 29.0 |
| 1968 | 30 | #2,218 | 18.3 |
| 1967 | 43 | #1,765 | 26.0 |
| 1966 | 28 | #2,270 | 16.5 |
| 1965 | 24 | #2,492 | 13.6 |
| 1964 | 21 | #2,767 | 11.1 |
| 1963 | 20 | #2,812 | 10.4 |
| 1962 | 16 | #3,212 | 8.1 |
| 1961 | 17 | #3,102 | 8.4 |
| 1960 | 16 | #3,138 | 7.9 |
| 1959 | 10 | #4,133 | 4.9 |
| 1958 | 10 | #4,042 | 5.0 |
| 1957 | 5 | #6,447 | 2.4 |
| 1956 | 6 | #5,538 | 3.0 |
| 1955 | 9 | #4,183 | 4.6 |
| 1953 | 9 | #4,056 | 4.8 |
| 1952 | 8 | #4,264 | 4.3 |
| 1951 | 6 | #5,077 | 3.3 |
| 1948 | 5 | #5,560 | 2.9 |
| 1946 | 7 | #4,163 | 4.5 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Ilana a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Ilana has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 76 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Ilana: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Ilana, and how old are they?
5,520 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 97% of the 5,678 Americans ever recorded as Ilana. The median Ilana alive today is 29 years old; half are between 17 and 40.
The 2020 Census counted 5,890 people named Ilana (5,879 women and girls, 11 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 5,083 born in the U.S. The Census count is 16% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 135 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 778 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,740 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,770 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,100 |
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 Ilana born?
The states with the most babies named Ilana are New York, California and Pennsylvania, with 84% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 12 | #1,194 | 3.6× |
| California | 8 | #2,362 | 0.9× |
| Pennsylvania | 6 | #1,294 | 0.7× |
| Texas | 5 | #3,504 | 0.3× |
Where Ilana is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Ilana is most over-represented in New York: since 1946 it was given 3.6 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 Ilana 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 50,528 babies since 1880, Ilana is the third most given (11% of them). In 2025 it was given to 71 of their 744 babies (9.5%), the fourth 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 Ilana
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 Ilana and names like it
- Compare Ilana and IleneBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1990sIlana peaked in 1992.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Ilana since 1910.
- The top names of 1992The year the most babies were named Ilana.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Ilana alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with IMost given first.