Layla
Layla was given to 5,338 girls in 2025, #36 among girls’ names; 129,245 Americans have been recorded with it since 1950 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 128,000 Americans named Layla and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (99% of everyone recorded); the median is 11 years old and half are between 6 and 16.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Layla by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Layla mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Layla is “a female given name from Arabic, variant of Leila.”
One of many alternative spellings of a name transliterated from Arabic; see Leila for more information. Since the late 20th century, in English, this given name in this spelling is sometimes bestowed solely because it is considered euphonious, a theme true of many given names; Wikipedia at given name § Popularity discusses name choice motivations.
/ˈleɪlə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Layla?
#36 among girls’ names, 2025
Layla fell from #30 in 2015 to #36 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 3.6 to 3.3 per 1,000.
6,528 babies in 2019, the peak
Layla peaked in 2019, when 6,528 babies were given it (6,523 girls, #23 among girls’ names). The 5,338 births of 2025 are 82% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 5,338 | #36 | 3.3 |
| 2024 | 5,325 | #37 | 3.3 |
| 2023 | 5,703 | #30 | 3.6 |
| 2022 | 6,096 | #29 | 3.7 |
| 2021 | 6,356 | #24 | 3.9 |
| 2020 | 6,228 | #24 | 3.9 |
| 2019 | 6,523 | #23 | 3.9 |
| 2018 | 6,512 | #27 | 3.8 |
| 2017 | 6,335 | #26 | 3.7 |
| 2016 | 6,300 | #30 | 3.6 |
Every recorded year (62)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 6,348 | #30 | 3.6 |
| 2014 | 6,466 | #29 | 3.6 |
| 2013 | 6,490 | #30 | 3.7 |
| 2012 | 6,279 | #31 | 3.6 |
| 2011 | 6,088 | #35 | 3.5 |
| 2010 | 5,901 | #36 | 3.3 |
| 2009 | 5,212 | #45 | 2.8 |
| 2008 | 4,931 | #55 | 2.6 |
| 2007 | 3,903 | #85 | 2.0 |
| 2006 | 3,362 | #101 | 1.8 |
| 2005 | 2,384 | #144 | 1.3 |
| 2004 | 2,012 | #167 | 1.1 |
| 2003 | 1,687 | #195 | 0.92 |
| 2002 | 1,073 | #291 | 0.60 |
| 2001 | 947 | #328 | 0.53 |
| 2000 | 698 | #407 | 0.38 |
| 1999 | 351 | #656 | 0.20 |
| 1998 | 247 | #860 | 0.14 |
| 1997 | 190 | #1,012 | 0.11 |
| 1996 | 215 | #914 | 0.12 |
| 1995 | 235 | #835 | 0.13 |
| 1994 | 224 | #874 | 0.13 |
| 1993 | 320 | #684 | 0.18 |
| 1992 | 166 | #1,084 | 0.09 |
| 1991 | 109 | #1,453 | 0.06 |
| 1990 | 132 | #1,247 | 0.07 |
| 1989 | 95 | #1,510 | 0.05 |
| 1988 | 109 | #1,323 | 0.06 |
| 1987 | 90 | #1,454 | 0.05 |
| 1986 | 127 | #1,138 | 0.07 |
| 1985 | 81 | #1,514 | 0.05 |
| 1984 | 111 | #1,187 | 0.07 |
| 1983 | 87 | #1,377 | 0.05 |
| 1982 | 116 | #1,183 | 0.07 |
| 1981 | 106 | #1,235 | 0.06 |
| 1980 | 130 | #1,085 | 0.08 |
| 1979 | 130 | #1,068 | 0.08 |
| 1978 | 142 | #977 | 0.09 |
| 1977 | 206 | #746 | 0.13 |
| 1976 | 174 | #800 | 0.12 |
| 1975 | 194 | #743 | 0.13 |
| 1974 | 185 | #758 | 0.13 |
| 1973 | 151 | #853 | 0.10 |
| 1972 | 124 | #975 | 0.08 |
| 1971 | 42 | #2,022 | 0.03 |
| 1970 | 7 | #6,721 | under 0.01 |
| 1969 | 7 | #6,308 | under 0.01 |
| 1967 | 10 | #4,473 | 0.01 |
| 1964 | 7 | #5,766 | under 0.01 |
| 1957 | 5 | #6,603 | under 0.01 |
| 1955 | 7 | #4,977 | under 0.01 |
| 1950 | 7 | #4,540 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Layla a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Layla has been given almost only to girls: 109 boys in 62 years of records.
Girls and boys named Layla: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Layla, and how old are they?
128,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 99% of the 129,245 Americans ever recorded as Layla. The median Layla alive today is 11 years old; half are between 6 and 16.
The 2020 Census counted 84,915 people named Layla (84,798 women and girls, 117 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 95,023 born in the U.S. The Census count is 11% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 21 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,420 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 2,260 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 44,900 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 79,600 |
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 Layla born?
The states with the most babies named Layla are California, Texas and New York, with 28% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 624 | #32 | 0.8× |
| Texas | 539 | #40 | 1.0× |
| New York | 326 | #28 | 0.9× |
| Florida | 324 | #34 | 1.1× |
| Illinois | 204 | #30 | 1.0× |
| Pennsylvania | 194 | #34 | 1.0× |
| Ohio | 193 | #34 | 1.1× |
| New Jersey | 186 | #23 | 0.9× |
| North Carolina | 179 | #42 | 1.1× |
| Michigan | 170 | #26 | 1.1× |
Where Layla is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Layla is most over-represented in Louisiana: since 1950 it was given 1.2 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 Layla 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 193,879 babies since 1880, Layla is the most given (67% of them). In 2025 it was given to 5,338 of their 6,631 babies (81%), again the most given.
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 Layla
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 Layla and names like it
- Compare Layla and LailaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2010sLayla peaked in 2019.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Layla since 1910.
- The top names of 2019The year the most babies were named Layla.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Layla alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with LMost given first.