Ilana
Hebrew name meaning "tree" or "oak tree".
Name Census estimates that about 5,357 living Americans carry the first name Ilana. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ilana today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ilana births was 1992 (135 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ilana. 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 Ilana with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
5.4K
~ 1 in 63,983 Americans
Peak year
1992
135 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,463
Tracked since 1946
Census
Ilana in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,888 people with the first name Ilana, which placed it at #3,514 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
#3,514
National first-name rank
People counted
5.9K
5,888 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
76.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ilana
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ilana is White at 76.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.0%) and Two or More Races (4.6%). 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 Ilana 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 Ilana at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White76.2% · 4,486
- Hispanic or Latino12.0% · 708
- Two or more races4.6% · 273
- Black or African American4.4% · 261
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.3% · 138
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 22
Popularity
Ilana: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ilana from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 1,211 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Ilana remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ilana 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 Ilana during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ilanas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 19 states and territories. New York, California, New Jersey recorded the most babies named Ilana, while Washington, Oregon, Colorado recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 182 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ilana
The given name Ilana has its origins in the Hebrew language. It is a feminine form derived from the Hebrew name Ilan, which means "tree" or "oak tree." The name has been in use since ancient times in the Middle Eastern region.
Ilana is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, specifically in the Book of Samuel, as the name of one of King David's wives. This suggests that the name has been in use for at least 3,000 years.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Ilana was Ilana Rama, a prominent Jewish scholar and philosopher who lived in the 10th century CE in present-day Iraq. She is known for her contributions to the fields of mathematics and astronomy.
In the 11th century, Ilana bat Judah was a noted poet and author who lived in Spain during the Golden Age of Jewish culture in the Iberian Peninsula. Her works were influential in the development of Hebrew literature.
During the Middle Ages, Ilana de Cardona was a influential figure in the court of the Kingdom of Aragon in the 13th century. She played a role in the political and cultural affairs of the time.
In more recent history, Ilana Trager was a Polish-Israeli writer and educator who lived from 1915 to 1996. She was a prominent figure in the development of Hebrew literature and education in Israel.
Another notable individual with the name Ilana was Ilana Yahav, an Israeli intelligence officer and military leader who served in the Israeli Defense Forces from the 1950s to the 1980s. She played a significant role in several military operations and was highly respected for her leadership and strategic abilities.
People
Ilana + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ilana as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with I
Other first names starting with I with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ilana: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ilana?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,357 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ilana 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 63,983 US residents.
Is Ilana a common name?
We classify Ilana as "Rare". It ranks above 96.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,604 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ilana most popular?
The single biggest year for Ilana was 1992, when 135 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ilana is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ilana in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,888 people with the name Ilana, or 1.95 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,514 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 Ilana 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 Ilana?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ilana appears almost entirely female. Of the 5,890 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 Ilana?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ilana is White at 76.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.0%) and Two or More Races (4.6%). 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 Ilana most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ilana in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.2% (4,486 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 Ilana in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ilana a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ilana 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 Ilana still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ilana 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 Ilana 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 share the name Ilana?
Want to know how many Americans are named Ilana? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.