Ila
- Pronunciation
- [I-la]
- Gender
- Female
- Meaning
- From The Island
- Origin
- French
About the Name Ila
Ila is a short, soft name often glossed as "from the island," a delicate two-syllable name that has gained appeal amid the broad modern fashion for slim, vowel-rich girls' names. Pronounced I-la, its airy sound feels both quietly vintage and freshly current, slotting easily beside revived favorites like Isla, Ada, and Ivy. Its brevity and gentleness give it a understated, almost whispered charm, a name that draws attention through softness rather than flourish and feels effortlessly elegant on a modern child.
Ila is a recent arrival on the US Social Security top-1000 for girls, first entering in 2020. It reached its best national rank of #622 in 2023, the high point of a steady run that charted #683 in 2022 and eased slightly to #679 in 2024. Across its short run it accounts for 2,014 births, holding a consistent place near the upper-middle of the list — a fresh, minimalist name that established itself quickly at the turn of the decade and has maintained a stable, comfortable footing since.
The name's appeal is its featherlight simplicity — minimalist, melodic, and easy to pair with longer or more elaborate surnames. It offers a quieter, less common alternative to the hugely popular Isla while sharing its soft, island-tinged charm. The recorded variant is Eila, a closely related spelling that gently reshapes the opening sound while keeping the name's airy, delicate character intact.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Ila
US Popularity History (2020–2025)
Annual US births named Ila by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2023 with 480 girls named Ila (girl rank #622 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2025, ranked #718 for girls (390 US births). That's 96 places below its 2023 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.
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Where in the US Is Ila 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 Ila the strongest states are Idaho, Iowa, Nebraska.
Strongest girls-name states
Weakest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | #1,055 | 81 |
| 2 | Florida | #1,003 | 48 |
| 3 | Illinois | #896 | 65 |
| 4 | Texas | #851 | 144 |
| 5 | Washington | #839 | 55 |
| 6 | Pennsylvania | #796 | 52 |
| 7 | Louisiana | #783 | 36 |
| 8 | Arizona | #773 | 44 |
| 9 | Georgia | #743 | 83 |
| 10 | Virginia | #729 | 44 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Ila in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Variant Forms
| Name | Meaning | Gender | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eila | Variant Of Evelyn. | Female | Irish |
Looking for names like Ila?
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 Ila to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Ila against today's most popular girls-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).
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