Leilah
Of Arabic origin, meaning "night" or "dark beauty".
Name Census estimates that about 4,039 living Americans carry the first name Leilah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Leilah today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Leilah births was 2010 (251 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Leilah. 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 Leilah with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Leilah is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 14 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
4.0K
~ 1 in 84,861 Americans
Peak year
2010
251 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,753
Tracked since 1898
Census
Leilah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,796 people with the first name Leilah, which placed it at #5,914 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
#5,914
National first-name rank
People counted
2.8K
2,796 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
42.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Leilah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leilah is Hispanic at 42.2%. The next largest groups are White (26.4%) and Black (17.8%). 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 Leilah 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 Leilah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino42.2% · 1,181
- White26.4% · 737
- Black or African American17.8% · 497
- Two or more races9.4% · 264
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.5% · 97
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 20
Popularity
Leilah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Leilah from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 2,012 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Leilah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Leilah 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 Leilah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Leilahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 24 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Leilah, while Utah, Massachusetts, Indiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 112 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Leilah
The name Leilah has its origins in the Arabic language and is derived from the word "layl," which means "night." It is a feminine name that has been in use for centuries and has a rich cultural and historical significance.
In the Islamic tradition, Leilah is associated with the night of power or the night of destiny, known as Laylat al-Qadr, which is considered one of the most sacred nights in the Islamic calendar. This night is believed to be when the first verses of the Quran were revealed to the Prophet Muhammad.
The name Leilah has been documented in various historical records and texts throughout the Middle East and North Africa. One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name can be found in the medieval Arabic literature, where it was used as a poetic metaphor to represent beauty, mystery, and tranquility.
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Leilah. One of the most famous was Leilah al-Khayria, a 10th-century Arab poet and scholar from Cordoba, Spain, who was renowned for her contributions to literature and philosophy.
Another prominent figure was Leilah Khaled, a Palestinian revolutionary and member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, who was active in the 1960s and 1970s and became an iconic figure in the Palestinian resistance movement.
In the world of music, Leilah Bakhtiar was an Iranian singer and songwriter known for her performances of traditional Persian music in the 20th century. She was born in 1932 and was considered one of the most influential voices in Iranian classical music.
In the realm of literature, Leilah Nadir was an Egyptian novelist and short story writer who lived from 1909 to 1989. Her works explored themes of social injustice, women's rights, and the complexities of modern Egyptian society.
Another notable figure was Leilah Abdennabi, a Tunisian activist and feminist who fought for women's rights and played a significant role in the Tunisian women's movement in the mid-20th century. She was born in 1907 and dedicated her life to promoting gender equality and social reforms.
People
Leilah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Leilah 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
Leilah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Leilah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,039 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Leilah 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 84,861 US residents.
Is Leilah a common name?
We classify Leilah as "Rare". It ranks above 96% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,115 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Leilah most popular?
The single biggest year for Leilah was 2010, when 251 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Leilah is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Leilah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,796 people with the name Leilah, or 0.93 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,914 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 Leilah 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 Leilah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Leilah appears almost entirely female. Of the 2,797 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 Leilah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leilah is Hispanic at 42.2%. The next largest groups are White (26.4%) and Black (17.8%). 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 Leilah most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Leilah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 42.2% (1,181 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 Leilah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Leilah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Leilah 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 Leilah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Leilah 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 Leilah 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 Leilah?
You can see how many Americans are named Leilah on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.