Laela
Of Arabic origin, meaning "birth during the night".
Name Census estimates that about 1,642 living Americans carry the first name Laela. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Laela today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Laela births was 2009 (111 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Laela. 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 Laela with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Laela is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 16 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.6K
~ 1 in 208,742 Americans
Peak year
2009
111 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,845
Tracked since 1972
Census
Laela in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,278 people with the first name Laela, which placed it at #10,439 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
#10,439
National first-name rank
People counted
1.3K
1,278 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
49.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Laela
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Laela is White at 49.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (17.8%) and Black (17.6%). 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 Laela 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 Laela at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White49.5% · 633
- Hispanic or Latino17.8% · 228
- Black or African American17.6% · 225
- Two or more races10.8% · 138
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.4% · 31
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 23
Popularity
Laela: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Laela from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 689 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Laela remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Laela 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 Laela during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Laelas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 17 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Laela, while Virginia, Tennessee, Ohio recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 28 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Laela
The name Laela is of Arabic origin, derived from the word "layl," which means "night." It is a feminine name that has been used for centuries in various parts of the Middle East and North Africa.
In its earliest recorded use, the name Laela was found in ancient Arabic poetry and literature, often used as a metaphor for beauty and grace. It was also associated with the moon, as the Arabic word "layl" refers to the night when the moon is visible.
One of the earliest known references to the name Laela can be found in the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam. In the Qur'an, there is a verse that mentions the word "layl" in the context of praising the Creator for the beauty of the night.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Laela. One of the earliest recorded was Laela bint Abi Dharr al-Ghifari (born around 610 CE), a companion of the Prophet Muhammad and a renowned scholar of Islamic jurisprudence.
In the 12th century, Laela al-Akhyaliya (1162-1242) was a famous poet and musician from Andalusia, Spain, renowned for her contributions to the Arabic literary tradition.
During the Ottoman Empire, Laela Khanum (1802-1865) was a prominent Turkish poet and calligrapher, known for her beautiful handwriting and her poetic works that celebrated love and nature.
In the modern era, Laela Khalifeh (1925-2008) was a renowned Palestinian artist and ceramist, celebrated for her intricate pottery designs and her efforts to preserve traditional Palestinian art forms.
Another notable figure was Laela Baksh (1945-2014), a Pakistani politician and activist who played a significant role in advocating for women's rights and social justice in her country.
The name Laela has transcended its Arabic roots and has been adopted by various cultures around the world, reflecting its timeless beauty and rich historical significance.
People
Laela + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Laela 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
Laela: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Laela?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,642 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Laela 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 208,742 US residents.
Is Laela a common name?
We classify Laela as "Rare". It ranks above 92.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,662 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Laela most popular?
The single biggest year for Laela was 2009, when 111 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Laela is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Laela in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,278 people with the name Laela, or 0.42 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,439 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 Laela 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 Laela?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Laela appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,278 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Laela?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Laela is White at 49.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (17.8%) and Black (17.6%). 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 Laela most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Laela in the 2020 Census, accounting for 49.5% (633 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 Laela in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Laela a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Laela 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 Laela still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Laela 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 Laela 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 are called Laela?
You can see how many Americans are named Laela on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.