Naylah
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "successful" or "prosperous".
Name Census estimates that about 629 living Americans carry the first name Naylah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Naylah today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Naylah births was 2016 (49 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Naylah. 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 Naylah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
629
~ 1 in 544,919 Americans
Peak year
2016
49 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,842
Tracked since 1996
Census
Naylah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 418 people with the first name Naylah, which placed it at #23,409 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
#23,409
National first-name rank
People counted
418
418 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
52.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Naylah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Naylah is Hispanic at 52.4%. The next largest groups are Black (33.0%) and White (7.2%). 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 Naylah 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 Naylah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino52.4% · 219
- Black or African American33.0% · 138
- White7.2% · 30
- Two or more races4.8% · 20
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 3
Popularity
Naylah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Naylah from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 354 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Naylah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Naylah 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 Naylah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Naylahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Naylah, while Massachusetts, New York, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 32 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Naylah
The given name Naylah originates from the Arabic language and culture. It is a feminine name derived from the Arabic root word "na'il," which means "gain" or "attainment." The name likely emerged during the early centuries of Islamic civilization in the Middle East and North Africa.
Naylah's Arabic roots can be traced back to ancient texts and manuscripts from the 7th century onward. While the name itself is not found in religious scriptures like the Quran, its linguistic components are deeply rooted in the Arabic language and Islamic tradition.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Naylah can be found in a 9th-century manuscript from Baghdad, which mentions a woman named Naylah bint Abdallah, a respected scholar and poet of her time. Another notable historical figure bearing this name was Naylah al-Baghdadiyah, a renowned 11th-century calligrapher and artist from the city of Baghdad.
In the 13th century, a prominent Sufi mystic and spiritual leader, Naylah al-Dimashqi, gained recognition for her teachings and influence in the region of Damascus. Her writings and teachings were widely circulated and studied within Sufi circles.
During the Ottoman Empire's reign in the 16th century, Naylah Khanum, a powerful and influential figure in the imperial court, played a significant role in shaping the political and cultural landscape of the empire.
Fast-forwarding to the 19th century, Naylah al-Misriyah was a celebrated Egyptian writer and feminist activist who fought for women's rights and education in her country.
Throughout its long history, the name Naylah has been associated with individuals from various walks of life, including scholars, artists, spiritual leaders, and influential figures in the realms of politics and culture.
People
Naylah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Naylah as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Naylah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Naylah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 629 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Naylah 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 544,919 US residents.
Is Naylah a common name?
We classify Naylah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 634 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Naylah most popular?
The single biggest year for Naylah was 2016, when 49 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Naylah is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Naylah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 418 people with the name Naylah, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #23,409 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 Naylah 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 Naylah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Naylah appears almost entirely female. Of the 414 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 Naylah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Naylah is Hispanic at 52.4%. The next largest groups are Black (33.0%) and White (7.2%). 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 Naylah most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Naylah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 52.4% (219 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 Naylah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Naylah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Naylah 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 Naylah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Naylah 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 Naylah 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 common is the name Naylah?
See how many Americans are named Naylah on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.