Leyla
- Pronunciation
- [Ley-la]
- Gender
- Female
- Meaning
- Born At Night.
- Origin
- Arabic
About the Name Leyla
Leyla is the Turkish, Persian, and Arabic spelling variant of Layla (see separate entry on Layla for the Arabic laylā etymology meaning "night" — and the iconic 7th-century Arabic literary couple Layla and Majnun). The Y-spelling Leyla is the standard form across Turkish naming traditions.
The various spellings (Leyla, Layla, Laila) are tracked separately by SSA and represent the same underlying Arabic-Persian-Turkish name. The Leyla spelling specifically appeals to parents seeking a more visually distinctive form. Notable bearers include the iconic Turkish singer Leyla Gencer (1928–2008, the iconic Turkish opera soprano whose career spanned the late 20th century); American basketball player Leyla Williams; and the contemporary American singer Leyla.
Leyla's American climb is recent: the name climbed from outside the US top 1000 in 2005 to the US top 300 girls' rank by 2018 and the top 300 since. The name has been driven primarily by Turkish-American, Persian-American, and Arabic-American immigration. The name's appeal sits in three contemporary American naming preferences: the layered Arabic-Persian-Turkish-multi-cultural pedigree, the in-built distinctive night/dark-haired etymological register, and the popular two-syllable -la ending family (Leyla, Layla, Lyla, Stella). Two firm syllables, soft consonants, and tonal warmth distinctive to multi-cultural names. The name reads as both classical-multi-cultural and contemporary American. Common nicknames Ley (the dominant short form, casual and warm), Lay, and the rare Lala each carry distinct registers; the alternate spellings Leyla (the Turkish-Persian spelling), Layla (the more popular Western American spelling), and Laila have their own SSA tracking. International forms include Layla (Arabic original), Leyla (Turkish/Persian), and the original Arabic laylā.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Leyla
US Popularity History (2005–2025)
Annual US births named Leyla by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2022 with 503 girls named Leyla (girl rank #595 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2025, ranked #611 for girls (478 US births). That's 16 places below its 2022 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
Paste the snippet below on any HTML page. Includes a credit link back to 9BabyNames — please keep it intact.
Where in the US Is Leyla Most Popular?
Average girl-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's girls-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Leyla the strongest states are New Jersey, California, New York.
Strongest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Jersey | #391 | 196 |
| 2 | California | #426 | 794 |
| 3 | New York | #465 | 351 |
| 4 | Florida | #467 | 362 |
| 5 | Texas | #476 | 638 |
| 6 | Connecticut | #481 | 39 |
| 7 | Arizona | #520 | 126 |
| 8 | Illinois | #577 | 176 |
| 9 | Massachusetts | #632 | 81 |
| 10 | Maryland | #639 | 70 |
Weakest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ohio | #854 | 33 |
| 2 | Michigan | #854 | 37 |
| 3 | Minnesota | #807 | 26 |
| 4 | North Carolina | #800 | 83 |
| 5 | Pennsylvania | #779 | 76 |
| 6 | Kentucky | #776 | 16 |
| 7 | Utah | #752 | 15 |
| 8 | Georgia | #740 | 102 |
| 9 | Oregon | #705 | 20 |
| 10 | Colorado | #688 | 70 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Leyla in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Variant Forms
| Name | Meaning | Gender | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Laila | Night | Female | Danish |
| Layla | Swahili And Muslim Name Meaning "Born At Night." | Female | African |
| Leela | Play MADHUR | Female | Indian |
| Lela | Born At Night. | Female | Arabic |
| Lelia | Well-Spoken | Female | Greek |
| Lila | Feminine Of Lyle From The Island. Variant Of Delilah. | Female | English |
| Lilah | Feminine Of Lyle From The Island. Variant Of Delilah. | Female | English |
Looking for names like Leyla?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Leyla to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Leyla against today's most popular girls-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).