Meaning "night" in Arabic and Hebrew, Layla has an interesting history as an American baby name. In this article, we'll first delve into the origins and meaning of this beautiful girl's name, and then move on to explore Layla's journey from an exotic, rarely used girl's name to one of the most popular names of the twenty-first century. We'll also provide a list of famous people called Layla – so you'll know your little Layla will be in good company – as well as a selection of other baby names that might appeal to parents who like the sound or meaning of Layla.
Finally, if you do decide to bestow this pretty name on your baby girl, we have a little goodie waiting for you at the end: a personalized name sign to add a touch of personality to Baby Layla's nursery!
Layla, which means "night" in Arabic, has a long history of use as a girl's name in the Middle East, though the spelling Layla is obviously a Western transliteration of the original appellation. Depending on which part of the Western world you call home, it can be pronounced LAY-luh or like the name Lyla.
Also spelling variations and derivatives abound, and again, depending on your cultural and linguistic heritage, you can take your pick from the traditional Layla, the modern Laela, the Scandinavian Laila, the Balkan Lejla, the Turkish Leyla or the culture-spanning Leila. For even more customization, you can add an "h" to the end and go with Laylah, Lailah, Leilah or Leylah – all perfectly legit options.
While the name Layla is widely considered an Arab export, it also has an interesting Jewish connection. Though it doesn't appear in the Hebrew Bible as a given name, Layla – or technically לַיְלָה, typically transliterated as Laylah – appears as the name of an angel in Jewish mythology (Schwartz, 2007). In addition, Laylah (pronounced like the name Lyla) is a Hebrew word meaning "night", which is hardly surprising given that Arabic and Hebrew are related, both belonging to the Semitic family of languages.
While there's no person called Layla or Laylah in the Hebrew Bible, Laylah does crop up several times in Scripture – as a word meaning "night". In fact, the first appearance already occurs on the first page of the Bible, in Genesis 1:5: God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night (Laylah).
However, despite its angelic meaning in Jewish mythology and multiple occurrences as a word in the Hebrew Bible, Layla is not considered a typical Jewish name, nor is it considered a biblical girl's name in the traditional sense.
Given how popular the name Layla is today, it's hard to imagine it was virtually unheard of in the U.S. before the 1970s. In fact, this pretty girl's name might have stayed off the radar even longer if Eric Clapton hadn't made the hit song "Layla", which is still considered one of the greatest love songs in the history of rock music.
In his autobiography, Clapton talks about the origins of Layla, which he co-wrote with drummer Jim Gordon after hearing the Arab/Persian love story of Layla and Majnun. In the story, Majnun falls madly in love with a woman called Layla but is never able to marry her. A tragic tale exploring the theme of forbidden love, the story of Layla and Majnun has been referred to by some as the Middle Eastern equivalent of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
Following the release of Clapton's song in the early 1970s, the name Layla made its debut on the U.S. Top 1000 Girl Names chart in 1972. The name stayed in the rankings for the better part of the decade but eventually fell off again. Then, two decades later Layla re-entered the Top 1000 in 1993, just one year after the hugely successful release of Clapton's acoustic Unplugged version of Layla. Hard to chalk that up to coincidence!
It's worth noting, though, that the popularity surges coinciding with Clapton's musical successes were modest at best, and at that point, Layla was still considered an unusual baby name choice, never making it further than the fringes of the Top 1000.
Around the turn of the millennium, however, things started to change, and Layla began its remarkable ascent to baby name stardom. In 2000, it cracked the Top 500 for girls, and in 2006, it already came in at #100 in the rankings. In 2013, Layla made history again by cracking the Top 30. (Social Security Administration, 2024)
While Layla's early days in the Top 1000 were fuelled by Clapton's hit song, its later success can be put down to its own merits. Packed with vowel sounds and boasting the lovely lilting L not once but twice, Layla feels in step with the times, along with the similar-sounding Isla, Lyla, Ayla, and Leilani, all beloved choices for modern baby girls.
And it's not just a feeling, but data backs this up as well. We analyzed the Social Security Administration's baby name data and found that in the past 100 years, the decade from 2010-2019 saw the highest number of baby girls with an L-beginning, la-ending name. This trend held true even after adjusting the data for the total number of babies born in each decade included in our little study.
However, when we extended the study period to include all the decades since the beginning of recorded baby name history (i.e. since the year 1880), we found that around the turn of the 20th century, girl names beginning with L and ending in -la were hugely popular, even more so than in the 2010s. This might explain why Layla has a certain vintage vibe about it, without actually qualifying as a vintage name in the American context.
So far, we've talked about fictional characters bearing the name Layla, but there are also plenty of famous real-life Laylas, especially if you count all the Lailas and Leilas as well. Here's a list of famous people who have or are still rocking the name Layla or one of its variants:
Clocking in at just two syllables, Layla doesn't easily lend itself to nicknames. That could be a boon or a bane, depending on where you stand on the nickname debate.
If you want other people to call your daughter what you actually named her, then Layla is a fairly safe bet.
If you like to build in some flexibility, then Layla might not be the ideal choice. Also, if there are two or more children with the same name in your child's class, a nickname-rich moniker will allow each child to lay claim to a distinct appellation, and by extension, identity. Take a name like Isabella, for example. Two classmates named Isabella could go by Isa and Bella. Or Izzy and Bea. But two classmates named Layla would likely end up being called Layla S. and Layla J. (or whatever their last names dictate).
Now, if you do like nicknames, especially cute, endearing handles you can use in a family setting, Layla does offer some options. Lay/Lae, Layl, Laylay, or even Lulu could all work as nicknames for Layla if you ever feel like switching things up a bit. And, if you're a nickname aficionado who likes to have cutesy nicknames for everyone, especially babies, Laylabug is hard to resist!
Layla has several homonyms which, for the uninitiated, are names that are pronounced the same way as Layla but are spelled differently. These include:
If you're looking for a name that's similar to Layla in sound, but still different, then one of these names might appeal:
If it's the meaning of Layla that drew you in, then you might want to look into names with night-related meanings:
Our nursery name sign for Layla is based on an original, hand-painted watercolor illustration inspired by Layla's meaning—"night". Digitally personalized with the letter L and the name Layla, this exclusive Names and Nursery printable is available free of charge for parents of baby girls called Layla, as well as for those who want to use it as a gift for a friend with a little Layla. You are not allowed to redistribute the printable digitally, nor are you allowed to use it for commercial purposes.
As the Editor in Chief at Names and Nursery, Netta is passionate about analyzing baby name trends and creating content that digs beneath the surface, whether it means heading to the library to research the etymology of a given name or spending hours slicing and dicing the SSA baby name data. She has more than 15 years of experience in copywriting and editing, and her work has appeared in a variety of online publications. She speaks five languages and has lived in four countries, which puts her in a unique position as a writer specializing in onomastics.