Lela
Variant of Leila, which comes from the Arabic layla, meaning night. The same spelling is a Georgian name and overlaps with the Latin family name Laelius.
Lela in 2025
Lela was given to 76 babies in the United States in 2025, making it the 4,267th most popular name of the year. That is roughly one in every 43,623 babies born.
The history of Lela
Lela reached its highest point in 1921, when 907 babies were given the name, ranking 379th that year. Its best-ever ranking was 161st, in 1901.
Across the 146 years of records since 1880, 43,073 babies have been named Lela. Half of them were born before 1924, which places the name's centre of gravity with the Greatest Generation.
Lela by decade
| Decade | Babies named Lela | Best rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 1,920 | 195 |
| 1890s | 3,892 | 164 |
| 1900s | 4,473 | 161 |
| 1910s | 7,019 | 237 |
| 1920s | 7,869 | 379 |
| 1930s | 4,641 | 479 |
| 1940s | 3,362 | 658 |
| 1950s | 2,382 | 896 |
| 1960s | 1,478 | 1,278 |
| 1970s | 1,068 | 1,633 |
| 1980s | 864 | 1,981 |
| 1990s | 687 | 2,978 |
| 2000s | 1,380 | 2,394 |
| 2010s | 1,467 | 2,363 |
| 2020s | 571 | 3,302 |
Where Lela is heading
Lela has fallen 48% over the past decade, from 147 babies in 2015 to 76 in 2025.
Names like Lela
Names that rose and fell at the same time as Lela.