Laiah
A feminine Arabic name meaning "beautiful night" or "dark beauty".
Name Census estimates that about 331 living Americans carry the first name Laiah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Laiah today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Laiah births was 2012 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Laiah. 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.
People living today
331
~ 1 in 1,035,512 Americans
Peak year
2012
27 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,694
Tracked since 2003
Popularity
Laiah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Laiah from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 194 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Laiah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Laiah 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 Laiah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Laiahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Florida, California, New York recorded the most babies named Laiah, while Texas, New York, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 5 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Laiah
The name Laiah is of Arabic origin, derived from the word "layla," which means "night" or "born at night." It is a feminine name that has been used in various cultures and regions across the Middle East and North Africa.
The earliest known use of the name Laiah can be traced back to the 7th century CE, during the rise of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula. It is believed that the name gained popularity as a variant of the more common Arabic name Layla, which was famously used in the classic love story "Layla and Majnun," written by the Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi in the 12th century.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Laiah was Laiah bint Abi Dhu'ayb, a woman who lived during the Umayyad Caliphate in the 7th century CE. She was known for her poetry and her role in preserving the oral traditions of pre-Islamic Arabia.
In the 9th century CE, Laiah bint al-Mahdi was a notable figure in the Abbasid court. She was the daughter of the Abbasid caliph al-Mahdi and was renowned for her intelligence and literary talents.
During the Mamluk Sultanate in the 13th century, Laiah al-Shami was a prominent scholar and poet from Damascus. She was known for her expertise in various fields, including literature, grammar, and Islamic jurisprudence.
In the 19th century, Laiah al-Rassam was a notable Iraqi artist and calligrapher. She was born in Baghdad in 1870 and gained recognition for her intricate calligraphic works and depictions of traditional Iraqi life.
Another notable figure with the name Laiah was Laiah Khouri, a Lebanese-American writer and journalist born in 1924. She wrote extensively about the Middle East and was a vocal advocate for Palestinian rights and Arab culture.
While the name Laiah has ancient roots and a rich history, it has also been embraced by modern families around the world, transcending cultural and linguistic boundaries. The name's association with the night and its poetic connotations have contributed to its enduring appeal.
People
Laiah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Laiah 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
Laiah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Laiah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 331 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Laiah 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 1,035,512 US residents.
Is Laiah a common name?
We classify Laiah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 334 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Laiah most popular?
The single biggest year for Laiah was 2012, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Laiah is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Laiah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Laiah 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.
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.