Naila
A feminine Arabic name meaning "one who achieves her aspirations".
Name Census estimates that about 3,071 living Americans carry the first name Naila. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Naila today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Naila births was 2019 (231 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Naila. 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 Naila with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Naila is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 15 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
3.1K
~ 1 in 111,610 Americans
Peak year
2019
231 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,459
Tracked since 1953
Census
Naila in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,220 people with the first name Naila, which placed it at #5,359 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#5,359
National first-name rank
People counted
3.2K
3,220 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
31.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Naila
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Naila is Asian/Pacific Islander at 31.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (30.2%) and Black (19.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Naila described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Naila at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander31.1% · 1,001
- Hispanic or Latino30.2% · 972
- Black or African American19.9% · 640
- White13.8% · 443
- Two or more races4.8% · 155
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 9
Popularity
Naila: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Naila from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,157 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Naila remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Naila 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 Naila during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nailas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 19 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Naila, while Connecticut, Colorado, Tennessee recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 92 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Naila
Naila is a feminine given name with roots tracing back to the Arabic language. The name is derived from the Arabic word "na'il," which means "to attain" or "to achieve." This suggests that the name may have been associated with a sense of accomplishment or success in its earliest usage.
The name Naila has been in use for centuries within Arabic-speaking regions, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa. It is believed to have originated in the ancient Arabian Peninsula, where the Arabic language and culture first flourished.
In Islamic tradition, the name Naila is not mentioned directly in religious scriptures such as the Quran or Hadith. However, its linguistic roots in Arabic place it within the cultural and linguistic context of the Islamic world.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Naila can be found in historical records from the medieval period. Naila bint al-Furati was a renowned female poet and scholar who lived in Baghdad during the 10th century AD. She was known for her contributions to Arabic literature and her mastery of various poetic forms.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Naila. Naila Murad (born 1938) is a prominent Pakistani artist and sculptor, renowned for her contributions to the arts in Pakistan and beyond. Naila Kabeer (born 1950) is a Bangladeshi-born British social economist and researcher, known for her work on gender, poverty, and labor issues.
Naila Nour El-Deen (1926-2018) was an Egyptian actress and singer who achieved widespread fame in the Arab world during the mid-20th century. She was celebrated for her performances in numerous films and stage productions.
Naila Inayat Khan (1914-1944) was a British World War II heroine and Special Operations Executive agent who served as a wireless operator and courier for the French Resistance during the Nazi occupation of France. She was captured, tortured, and executed by the Gestapo, and posthumously awarded the George Cross for her bravery.
Naila Kazi (born 1939) is a Pakistani author and journalist, known for her contributions to literature and her advocacy for women's rights and social justice in Pakistan.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have carried the name Naila throughout history, each leaving their mark in various fields, from literature and arts to resistance movements and social activism.
People
Naila + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Naila as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Naila: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Naila?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,071 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Naila 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 111,610 US residents.
Is Naila a common name?
We classify Naila as "Rare". It ranks above 95.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,117 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Naila most popular?
The single biggest year for Naila was 2019, when 231 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Naila is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Naila in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,220 people with the name Naila, or 1.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,359 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Naila in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Naila?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Naila appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,218 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Naila?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Naila is Asian/Pacific Islander at 31.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (30.2%) and Black (19.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Naila most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Naila in the 2020 Census, accounting for 31.1% (1,001 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
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 Naila in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Naila a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Naila 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 Naila still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Naila 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 Naila 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.
How many people have Naila as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Naila on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.