Lelah
Lelah was given to 10 girls in 2025, #9,822 among girls’ names; 2,187 Americans have been recorded with it since 1881 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Lelah by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Lelah?
#9,822 among girls’ names, 2025
Lelah fell from #6,364 in 2015 to #9,822 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 11.2 to 6.2 per million.
43 babies in 1915, the peak
Lelah peaked in 1915, when 43 girls were given it, #1,020 among girls’ names. The 10 births of 2025 are 23% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 10 | #9,822 | 0.01 |
| 2024 | 9 | #10,734 | 0.01 |
| 2023 | 14 | #7,860 | 0.01 |
| 2022 | 14 | #7,873 | 0.01 |
| 2021 | 12 | #8,750 | 0.01 |
| 2020 | 16 | #7,087 | 0.01 |
| 2019 | 10 | #10,167 | 0.01 |
| 2018 | 22 | #5,701 | 0.01 |
| 2017 | 14 | #8,101 | 0.01 |
| 2016 | 19 | #6,566 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (131)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 20 | #6,364 | 0.01 |
| 2014 | 20 | #6,331 | 0.01 |
| 2013 | 12 | #9,355 | 0.01 |
| 2012 | 21 | #6,237 | 0.01 |
| 2011 | 19 | #6,744 | 0.01 |
| 2010 | 22 | #6,079 | 0.01 |
| 2009 | 21 | #6,447 | 0.01 |
| 2008 | 27 | #5,377 | 0.01 |
| 2007 | 23 | #6,007 | 0.01 |
| 2006 | 26 | #5,314 | 0.01 |
| 2005 | 28 | #4,776 | 0.02 |
| 2004 | 16 | #7,261 | 0.01 |
| 2003 | 8 | #11,931 | under 0.01 |
| 2002 | 9 | #10,712 | 0.01 |
| 2001 | 8 | #11,581 | under 0.01 |
| 2000 | 8 | #11,335 | under 0.01 |
| 1999 | 6 | #13,643 | under 0.01 |
| 1996 | 10 | #8,539 | 0.01 |
| 1992 | 7 | #11,154 | under 0.01 |
| 1991 | 7 | #10,944 | under 0.01 |
| 1989 | 5 | #13,584 | under 0.01 |
| 1988 | 9 | #8,090 | 0.01 |
| 1987 | 9 | #7,725 | 0.01 |
| 1986 | 6 | #10,252 | under 0.01 |
| 1984 | 9 | #7,129 | 0.01 |
| 1982 | 7 | #8,758 | under 0.01 |
| 1981 | 5 | #11,331 | under 0.01 |
| 1980 | 9 | #7,117 | 0.01 |
| 1979 | 5 | #11,124 | under 0.01 |
| 1978 | 5 | #10,664 | under 0.01 |
| 1977 | 10 | #6,128 | 0.01 |
| 1975 | 10 | #5,772 | 0.01 |
| 1974 | 8 | #6,574 | 0.01 |
| 1973 | 6 | #7,954 | under 0.01 |
| 1972 | 9 | #5,714 | 0.01 |
| 1971 | 5 | #9,002 | under 0.01 |
| 1970 | 6 | #7,560 | under 0.01 |
| 1969 | 7 | #6,311 | under 0.01 |
| 1967 | 6 | #6,447 | under 0.01 |
| 1966 | 6 | #6,209 | under 0.01 |
| 1965 | 5 | #7,073 | under 0.01 |
| 1962 | 5 | #7,106 | under 0.01 |
| 1961 | 6 | #6,239 | under 0.01 |
| 1960 | 7 | #5,452 | under 0.01 |
| 1958 | 5 | #6,592 | under 0.01 |
| 1957 | 5 | #6,611 | under 0.01 |
| 1956 | 6 | #5,650 | under 0.01 |
| 1955 | 5 | #6,312 | under 0.01 |
| 1954 | 6 | #5,472 | under 0.01 |
| 1953 | 9 | #4,098 | under 0.01 |
| 1952 | 5 | #6,019 | under 0.01 |
| 1951 | 9 | #3,866 | under 0.01 |
| 1949 | 8 | #4,075 | under 0.01 |
| 1948 | 7 | #4,422 | under 0.01 |
| 1947 | 6 | #5,039 | under 0.01 |
| 1946 | 8 | #3,837 | 0.01 |
| 1945 | 9 | #3,272 | 0.01 |
| 1944 | 6 | #4,313 | under 0.01 |
| 1943 | 8 | #3,668 | 0.01 |
| 1942 | 8 | #3,590 | 0.01 |
| 1941 | 9 | #3,139 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 13 | #2,366 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 10 | #2,826 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 16 | #2,068 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 12 | #2,510 | 0.01 |
| 1936 | 13 | #2,334 | 0.01 |
| 1935 | 16 | #2,055 | 0.02 |
| 1934 | 17 | #1,959 | 0.02 |
| 1933 | 21 | #1,692 | 0.02 |
| 1932 | 25 | #1,548 | 0.02 |
| 1931 | 23 | #1,616 | 0.02 |
| 1930 | 20 | #1,843 | 0.02 |
| 1929 | 22 | #1,738 | 0.02 |
| 1928 | 20 | #1,934 | 0.02 |
| 1927 | 35 | #1,375 | 0.03 |
| 1926 | 29 | #1,522 | 0.02 |
| 1925 | 33 | #1,431 | 0.03 |
| 1924 | 25 | #1,742 | 0.02 |
| 1923 | 31 | #1,477 | 0.03 |
| 1922 | 38 | #1,277 | 0.03 |
| 1921 | 38 | #1,267 | 0.03 |
| 1920 | 35 | #1,334 | 0.03 |
| 1919 | 42 | #1,147 | 0.04 |
| 1918 | 29 | #1,474 | 0.03 |
| 1917 | 43 | #1,091 | 0.04 |
| 1916 | 37 | #1,179 | 0.04 |
| 1915 | 43 | #1,020 | 0.04 |
| 1914 | 24 | #1,285 | 0.03 |
| 1913 | 27 | #1,054 | 0.04 |
| 1912 | 21 | #1,163 | 0.04 |
| 1911 | 18 | #1,056 | 0.04 |
| 1910 | 25 | #867 | 0.06 |
| 1909 | 17 | #1,003 | 0.05 |
| 1908 | 13 | #1,172 | 0.04 |
| 1907 | 16 | #968 | 0.05 |
| 1906 | 19 | #860 | 0.06 |
| 1905 | 20 | #835 | 0.07 |
| 1904 | 26 | #693 | 0.09 |
| 1903 | 24 | #684 | 0.09 |
| 1902 | 24 | #704 | 0.09 |
| 1901 | 19 | #756 | 0.08 |
| 1900 | 33 | #618 | 0.11 |
| 1899 | 27 | #602 | 0.12 |
| 1898 | 39 | #497 | 0.15 |
| 1897 | 33 | #517 | 0.14 |
| 1896 | 23 | #661 | 0.10 |
| 1895 | 27 | #584 | 0.12 |
| 1894 | 26 | #580 | 0.12 |
| 1893 | 32 | #482 | 0.15 |
| 1892 | 30 | #499 | 0.14 |
| 1891 | 29 | #480 | 0.16 |
| 1890 | 28 | #496 | 0.15 |
| 1889 | 24 | #523 | 0.13 |
| 1888 | 19 | #586 | 0.11 |
| 1887 | 17 | #547 | 0.12 |
| 1886 | 15 | #592 | 0.10 |
| 1885 | 18 | #512 | 0.14 |
| 1884 | 12 | #627 | 0.09 |
| 1883 | 13 | #556 | 0.12 |
| 1882 | 11 | #584 | 0.10 |
| 1881 | 10 | #562 | 0.11 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Lelah a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Lelah has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 131 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Lelah: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Lelah, and how old are they?
An estimated 732 Americans named Lelah and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (34% of everyone recorded); the median is 21 years old and half are between 13 and 53. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 772 people named Lelah (767 women and girls, 5 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 740 born in the U.S. The Census count is 4% above that prediction.
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).
How common is the spelling Lelah?
Lelah is a less common spelling of Lela: SSA has recorded 2,187 Lelah and 43,073 Lela since 1880.
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 454,733 babies since 1880, Lelah is the eighth most given (<1% of them). In 2025 it was given to 10 of their 6,547 babies (<1%), again the eighth 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 Lelah
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 Lelah and names like it
- Compare Lelah and LelaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sLelah peaked in 1915.
- Indiana’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Lelah since 1910.
- The top names of 1915The year the most babies were named Lelah.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Lelah alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with LMost given first.