Laiyla
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "night" or "born at night".
Name Census estimates that about 271 living Americans carry the first name Laiyla. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Laiyla today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Laiyla births was 2011 (25 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Laiyla. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Laiyla with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
271
~ 1 in 1,264,776 Americans
Peak year
2011
25 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,653
Tracked since 2004
Popularity
Laiyla: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Laiyla from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 172 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Laiyla by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Laiyla during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Laiylas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Florida, Georgia, Texas recorded the most babies named Laiyla, while Texas, Georgia, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 5 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Laiyla
The name Laiyla has its origins in the Arabic language and culture. It is the feminine form of the Arabic word "layl" meaning "night." The name can be traced back to pre-Islamic Arabia, where it was likely used as a poetic term to describe the beauty and mystery of the night.
In Arabic literature, the name Laiyla is most famously associated with the tragic love story of Layla and Majnun, which dates back to the 7th century. The story, written by the Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi, tells of the ill-fated love between Qays ibn al-Mulawwah and the beautiful Layla bint Makhduh. Their love was so intense that Qays became known as "Majnun" (the madman) for his obsession with Layla.
One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name Laiyla was Layla bint Abi Murrah al-Thaqafi, a 7th-century Arab poet and warrior from the Banu Thaqif tribe in Mecca. She was known for her bravery and skill in battle, as well as for her poetry, which often celebrated the virtues of courage and honor.
In the 9th century, Laiyla al-Akhyaliyya was a renowned singer and musician from Baghdad. She was celebrated for her exceptional voice and mastery of the lute, and was a favorite of the Abbasid caliphs.
Another notable figure in history with the name Laiyla was Laiyla al-Amiriyya, a 10th-century Arab mathematician and astronomer from Damascus. She made significant contributions to the fields of trigonometry and spherical geometry, and her works were widely studied and influential in the Islamic world.
In the 12th century, Laiyla al-Akhyaliyya was a famous Andalusian poet and literary figure from Seville. Her poetry, which often explored themes of love and longing, was highly regarded and widely circulated throughout the Iberian Peninsula.
Laiyla Khanum, born in 1805, was a prominent Indian poet and courtesan from Awadh (present-day Uttar Pradesh). She was renowned for her wit, beauty, and literary talents, and her poetry, written in Urdu and Persian, was widely celebrated in her time.
People
Laiyla + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Laiyla as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with L
Other first names starting with L with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Laiyla: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Laiyla?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 271 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Laiyla going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,264,776 US residents.
Is Laiyla a common name?
We classify Laiyla as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 273 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Laiyla most popular?
The single biggest year for Laiyla was 2011, when 25 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Laiyla is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Laiyla in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Laiyla a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Laiyla in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Laiyla still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Laiyla in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Laiyla can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people have Laiyla as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.