Three letters, one syllable, and at least three competing source languages. Lila currently sits at rank 207 with 74,800 cumulative American girls on SSA record, just below the 2010 peak that brought it inside the top 200 for the first time since the 1920s. The chart shape shows a name with two distinct lives: a turn-of-the-20th-century run that faded after 1930, and a modern revival that began climbing again from the late 1990s.
The crossover etymology
Lila is one of those rare names that lands in multiple linguistic traditions at once. In Arabic, Layla or Laila means "night," and Lila is sometimes treated as an English-spelling variant of that thread. In Sanskrit, Lila means "divine play" or "cosmic dance," a foundational concept in Hindu philosophy describing the universe as a kind of joyful, spontaneous expression. A separate Germanic line treats Lila as a short form of Delilah or Lillian.
The same three letters carrying genuinely different meanings across Arabic, Sanskrit, and Anglo-European naming traditions gives the name unusual cross-cultural reach without forcing parents to pick a single source.
The vintage-revival sound
Phonetically Lila (LYE-la) belongs to the airy two-syllable cluster that has driven much of the girls' chart since 2010: Luna, Lola, Nora, Mila, and Ada all share the structure. The L-vowel-L pattern reads soft, vintage, and easy to call. Parents in this lane are reaching for names that sound both classical and untaxed.
Kate Moss's daughter Lila Grace (born 2002) is the highest-visibility modern bearer in the English-speaking world, though American naming forums also reference characters in literary fiction (Lila Cerullo in Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan Novels) and the singer Lila Downs.
The counter-reading
One thing worth flagging is the spelling versus pronunciation question. Lila with one L most commonly reads LYE-la, while Lyla also lands LYE-la and Lilah, Leila, and Layla all carry their own competing pronunciations. The name sounds simple but the spelling map for relatives and teachers is messier than parents sometimes expect.
Sibling pairings lean toward similarly soft vintage two-syllable names: Lila and Nora, Lila and June, Lila and Mila. Middle names tend long and classical: Lila Catherine, Lila Josephine, Lila Marguerite. The shorter middle pairings (Lila Rose, Lila Jane, Lila Kate) also sit comfortably without crowding the soft opening of the first name. For more in this aesthetic, browse four-letter girl names or rising names for similar climbers.