Nila
Nila was given to 116 girls in 2025, #1,754 among girls’ names; 7,136 Americans have been recorded with it since 1890 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 4,560 Americans named Nila and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (64% of everyone recorded); the median is 26 years old and half are between 10 and 70.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Nila by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Nila mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Nila is “a female given name.” Its etymology gives the senses “of a dark colour; blue; black” (नील) and “blue” (নীলা).
Also “a unisex given name borne by people in or from India.”
From Sanskrit नील (nīla, “of a dark colour; blue; black”), Bengali নীলা (nila, “blue”), or related words in other Indian subcontinent languages.
/nilə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Nila?
#1,754 among girls’ names, 2025
Nila rose from #1,789 in 2015 to #1,754 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 65.5 to 72.2 per million.
144 babies in 2022, the peak
Nila peaked in 2022, when 144 girls were given it, #1,513 among girls’ names. The 116 births of 2025 are 81% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 116 | #1,754 | 0.07 |
| 2024 | 122 | #1,680 | 0.08 |
| 2023 | 103 | #1,931 | 0.06 |
| 2022 | 144 | #1,513 | 0.09 |
| 2021 | 108 | #1,856 | 0.07 |
| 2020 | 110 | #1,803 | 0.07 |
| 2019 | 125 | #1,681 | 0.07 |
| 2018 | 120 | #1,724 | 0.07 |
| 2017 | 127 | #1,693 | 0.07 |
| 2016 | 105 | #1,924 | 0.06 |
Every recorded year (134)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 117 | #1,789 | 0.07 |
| 2014 | 110 | #1,849 | 0.06 |
| 2013 | 107 | #1,887 | 0.06 |
| 2012 | 100 | #1,969 | 0.06 |
| 2011 | 91 | #2,117 | 0.05 |
| 2010 | 61 | #2,862 | 0.03 |
| 2009 | 83 | #2,353 | 0.05 |
| 2008 | 67 | #2,744 | 0.04 |
| 2007 | 63 | #2,882 | 0.03 |
| 2006 | 66 | #2,720 | 0.03 |
| 2005 | 56 | #2,920 | 0.03 |
| 2004 | 50 | #3,113 | 0.03 |
| 2003 | 50 | #3,024 | 0.03 |
| 2002 | 46 | #3,126 | 0.03 |
| 2001 | 35 | #3,760 | 0.02 |
| 2000 | 38 | #3,494 | 0.02 |
| 1999 | 39 | #3,292 | 0.02 |
| 1998 | 33 | #3,619 | 0.02 |
| 1997 | 20 | #5,162 | 0.01 |
| 1996 | 28 | #3,905 | 0.02 |
| 1995 | 31 | #3,557 | 0.02 |
| 1994 | 18 | #5,390 | 0.01 |
| 1993 | 10 | #8,507 | 0.01 |
| 1992 | 9 | #9,274 | under 0.01 |
| 1991 | 19 | #5,120 | 0.01 |
| 1990 | 12 | #7,167 | 0.01 |
| 1989 | 14 | #6,049 | 0.01 |
| 1988 | 18 | #4,785 | 0.01 |
| 1987 | 12 | #6,209 | 0.01 |
| 1986 | 18 | #4,477 | 0.01 |
| 1985 | 18 | #4,393 | 0.01 |
| 1984 | 17 | #4,438 | 0.01 |
| 1983 | 16 | #4,623 | 0.01 |
| 1982 | 25 | #3,388 | 0.01 |
| 1981 | 18 | #4,281 | 0.01 |
| 1980 | 18 | #4,258 | 0.01 |
| 1979 | 21 | #3,744 | 0.01 |
| 1978 | 16 | #4,393 | 0.01 |
| 1977 | 16 | #4,362 | 0.01 |
| 1976 | 20 | #3,494 | 0.01 |
| 1975 | 19 | #3,598 | 0.01 |
| 1974 | 22 | #3,182 | 0.01 |
| 1973 | 19 | #3,429 | 0.01 |
| 1972 | 28 | #2,569 | 0.02 |
| 1971 | 20 | #3,336 | 0.01 |
| 1970 | 19 | #3,399 | 0.01 |
| 1969 | 25 | #2,684 | 0.01 |
| 1968 | 21 | #2,845 | 0.01 |
| 1967 | 37 | #1,939 | 0.02 |
| 1966 | 37 | #1,902 | 0.02 |
| 1965 | 28 | #2,280 | 0.02 |
| 1964 | 31 | #2,177 | 0.02 |
| 1963 | 38 | #1,912 | 0.02 |
| 1962 | 43 | #1,752 | 0.02 |
| 1961 | 51 | #1,591 | 0.03 |
| 1960 | 66 | #1,359 | 0.03 |
| 1959 | 61 | #1,379 | 0.03 |
| 1958 | 71 | #1,262 | 0.04 |
| 1957 | 75 | #1,221 | 0.04 |
| 1956 | 92 | #1,072 | 0.05 |
| 1955 | 79 | #1,124 | 0.04 |
| 1954 | 95 | #1,005 | 0.05 |
| 1953 | 98 | #963 | 0.05 |
| 1952 | 83 | #1,034 | 0.04 |
| 1951 | 101 | #910 | 0.06 |
| 1950 | 78 | #1,034 | 0.05 |
| 1949 | 93 | #921 | 0.05 |
| 1948 | 78 | #989 | 0.05 |
| 1947 | 78 | #1,005 | 0.04 |
| 1946 | 86 | #906 | 0.05 |
| 1945 | 72 | #895 | 0.06 |
| 1944 | 72 | #905 | 0.05 |
| 1943 | 92 | #805 | 0.07 |
| 1942 | 106 | #730 | 0.08 |
| 1941 | 92 | #745 | 0.08 |
| 1940 | 85 | #759 | 0.07 |
| 1939 | 103 | #671 | 0.09 |
| 1938 | 87 | #744 | 0.08 |
| 1937 | 86 | #731 | 0.08 |
| 1936 | 101 | #659 | 0.10 |
| 1935 | 128 | #567 | 0.12 |
| 1934 | 118 | #608 | 0.11 |
| 1933 | 94 | #675 | 0.09 |
| 1932 | 73 | #798 | 0.07 |
| 1931 | 68 | #836 | 0.06 |
| 1930 | 86 | #758 | 0.08 |
| 1929 | 88 | #750 | 0.08 |
| 1928 | 72 | #860 | 0.06 |
| 1927 | 86 | #784 | 0.07 |
| 1926 | 68 | #908 | 0.06 |
| 1925 | 66 | #921 | 0.05 |
| 1924 | 73 | #885 | 0.06 |
| 1923 | 73 | #861 | 0.06 |
| 1922 | 64 | #926 | 0.05 |
| 1921 | 61 | #952 | 0.05 |
| 1920 | 62 | #929 | 0.05 |
| 1919 | 53 | #995 | 0.05 |
| 1918 | 49 | #1,037 | 0.04 |
| 1917 | 45 | #1,063 | 0.04 |
| 1916 | 38 | #1,162 | 0.04 |
| 1915 | 43 | #1,022 | 0.04 |
| 1914 | 38 | #964 | 0.05 |
| 1913 | 24 | #1,140 | 0.04 |
| 1912 | 22 | #1,139 | 0.04 |
| 1911 | 14 | #1,276 | 0.03 |
| 1910 | 21 | #961 | 0.05 |
| 1909 | 11 | #1,349 | 0.03 |
| 1908 | 18 | #963 | 0.05 |
| 1907 | 5 | #2,293 | 0.02 |
| 1906 | 6 | #1,884 | 0.02 |
| 1905 | 8 | #1,503 | 0.03 |
| 1904 | 14 | #989 | 0.05 |
| 1903 | 6 | #1,735 | 0.02 |
| 1902 | 8 | #1,405 | 0.03 |
| 1901 | 9 | #1,204 | 0.04 |
| 1900 | 11 | #1,210 | 0.04 |
| 1899 | 9 | #1,159 | 0.04 |
| 1898 | 8 | #1,349 | 0.03 |
| 1897 | 5 | #1,721 | 0.02 |
| 1895 | 7 | #1,393 | 0.03 |
| 1893 | 7 | #1,261 | 0.03 |
| 1892 | 8 | #1,152 | 0.04 |
| 1891 | 9 | #988 | 0.05 |
| 1890 | 6 | #1,303 | 0.03 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Nila a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Nila has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 134 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Nila: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Nila, and how old are they?
4,560 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 64% of the 7,136 Americans ever recorded as Nila. The median Nila alive today is 26 years old; half are between 10 and 70.
The 2020 Census counted 5,504 people named Nila (5,451 women and girls, 53 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 4,341 born in the U.S. The Census count is 27% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 481 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,060 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 338 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 275 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 889 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,510 |
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 Nila born?
The states with the most babies named Nila are California, Texas and New Jersey, with 56% of its births recorded by state in 2025; New Jersey is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 20 | #1,263 | 0.7× |
| Texas | 13 | #1,764 | 0.8× |
| New Jersey | 9 | #826 | 0.3× |
| Virginia | 8 | #912 | 0.4× |
| Washington | 8 | #791 | 0.2× |
| North Carolina | 7 | #1,242 | 0.3× |
| New York | 5 | #2,329 | 0.2× |
| Pennsylvania | 5 | #1,560 | 0.2× |
Where Nila is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Nila is most over-represented in Indiana: since 1910 it was given 2.6 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 Nila 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 53,000 babies since 1880, Nila is the third most given (13% of them). In 2025 it was given to 116 of their 2,161 babies (5.4%), again the third 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 Nila
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 Nila and names like it
- Compare Nila and NylaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sNila peaked in 2022.
- Indiana’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Nila since 1910.
- The top names of 2022The year the most babies were named Nila.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Nila alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with NMost given first.