Appellation Mountain

Where every name has a story

Baby Name of the Day: Lila

By 34 Comments

She’s another popular, poetic choice with a surprising goth undertone.

Thanks to Frances for suggesting Lila as Baby Name of the Day.

Lila’s origins are much debated. Among the many suggested meanings and origins we find:

  • From the Arabic or Persian leila, meaning night, dark, or maybe dark beauty;
  • You might find her listed as an Indian name meaning beauty;
  • The Spanish lila, meaning lilac, which puts Lila in the company of Violet;
  • In Sanskrit, she’s a Hindu concept of sport, amusement, or play, also spelled Leela;
  • A Swahili word that means good;
  • A shortened form of Delilah;
  • A feminine version of Lyle;
  • Some even say she’s an acronym for Love You Lots, Always;

Given our growing quest for globe-trotting names, Lila’s eastern-leaning origins have some appeal. She’s currently at her most popular ranking ever – #168, but alternative spelling Lyla has fared even better, ranking #152 last year. Add in Lilah, currently at #366, and she’s easily a Top 100 name.

There’s also her lilting L sound, like Lily and Lola.

But she’s also an antique revival, and this is where Lila’s literary pedigree comes in. In the nineteenth century, Lila hovered in the 200s. Chalk it up to Lord Byron.

As a young man, Byron went on a Grand Tour of Europe, including Turkey. Less than five years later, he penned The Giaour, a tale of a harem girl in love with a Christian. Giaour is an insulting term for a non-Muslim. The harem girl – Leila – is drowned when her duplicity is discovered. Her beloved kills Leila’s murderous master, then enters a monastery to repent. The Giaour was a success, but Byron wasn’t the first to cast Leila in a romantic light.

Amongst medieval Arabic writers, Leila reigned as the name of choice for a Juliet figure, possibly based on a real love story from the 600s. Isaac D’Israeli translated the most popular version of the traditional Arabic tale around 1799, also using the Leila spelling.

But Lila would’ve been a nineteenth century variant spellings of Leila. Part of this is because English speakers pronounced Leila several ways: LEE lah, LAY lah, and LIE lah. Leila was slightly more popular than Lila in the nineteenth century, and Layla was unheard of, we can’t be certain that any of the names shared a consistent pronunciation. (It was the twentieth century before scholars turned their attention to a standard transliteration of the Arabic alphabet.)

One name became two: Layla, popularized by Derrick and the Dominos’ 1970 hit, and Lila, probably influenced by the Biblical Delilah.

As for the gothic tones? The Giaour is one of the first works of fiction to mention vampires.

Lila is enjoying much use among fictional characters in recent years:

  • In 1960’s Psycho, poor Marion’s sister was Lila;
  • General Hospital matriarch Lila Quartermaine was seen on daytime television for decades;
  • Lila Fowler was the poor little rich girl of the Sweet Valley High series;
  • Sociopath Lila Tournay was a major force in season two of Dexter;
  • In 2007’s August Rush, Keri Russell played the well-heeled cellist Lyla;
  • Born-again cheerleader Lyla Garrity is part of the cast of Friday Night Lights.

Celebrities have also embraced Lila. Kate Moss gave the name to her daughter; so did fashion journalist Trinny Woodall.

She’s stylish, simple, and has a great story to tell. Lila’s only shortcoming is that plenty of parents have figured this out!

More names you might like:

Comments

  1. Abby, would you say that Lila is more commonly pronounced ‘Leela’ or ‘Lyla’? If one wanted the ‘Lyla’ pronounciation, do you think the ‘Lila’ spelling would be confusing (I think it looks much prettier)? Thanks!

    Reply

  4. My name is Lila (Leela) And I love it. I would love it even more if it wasnt so popular! I loved it so much when it was unique but now its not really that unique and I’m quite annoyed by that 🙁

    Reply

  5. My daughter’s middle name is Lila (pn Lee-la). While she is often referred to as Little Lila – usually pronounced Leetle Leela! – I do have some regrets over the name. The different pronunciations didn’t bother me before she was born. I naively thought we could just correct people if they said Lie-la, but I am constantly frustrated with people telling me we pronounce it ‘wrong’. Despite loving names, I somehow missed it’s rise in popularity, as both her first and middle names are more popular than I’d like.

    It’s a pretty name and suits her well but I don’t absolutely love it like I do her brother’s.

    Reply

  6. I think the consensus is that Lila is lovely, but ever so popular!

    I know parents who went with the Lyla spelling because he’s German, and Lila would be pronounced differently. (Angela, I’m pretty sure you’re right about the purple reference, too – what I don’t know is if it is the main word for purple, or if it is more like violet, lilac, etc. Anyone?)

    Joy, what a sweet story!

    Melissa, I think the “Lila is the new Ava” idea is spot on!

    And Julie, Lily, Lila, and Lola? That’s much too close. How confusing.

    Reply

    • I’m sure someone is more qualified, but a year of German in college way back when brings to mind Purpur first for purple… I wonder if it’s dialectical or, like English, different shades?

      Reply

  7. To me…
    Leila = LAY-luh [‘le?.l?]
    Lila = LEE-luh [‘li?.l?]
    Laila = LYE-luh [‘la?.l?]

    [HA! I typed out the IPA and realised that the symbols were the same as the spellings!]

    Layla could be LYE-luh or LAY-luh — I’d be more inclined to pronounce it the same as Laila, but I know that most would intend LAY-luh to be the pronunciation.

    Lilah, again, I would pronounce the same as Lila, but recognise that others would say it like LYE-luh.

    Reply

  8. When I was little, my elderly babysitters helped me send letters to their friend in California, Leila, pronounced LEE-lah. This lady was in her 70s or 80s in the mid 1970s, so all versions of Lila and Leela sound old-fashioned to me.

    BTW, my “letters” were mostly photos of kittens, flowers, etc. that I cut out of magazines. I never met Leila, but she always replied with a little note and an envelope full of her own cut-out photos. Very strange yet sweet.

    Reply

  9. My Aunt is named Lyla, so that’s seems like the correct spelling to me and Lilah and Lila just look strange. My mom is amazed to meet babies named Lila, because her sister’s name was considered very old-fashioned when they were children. I would have considered the name IF Lila hadn’t shot up so quickly. But that’s not really true, because if Lila hadn’t become popular, I would just think of it as my 65-year-old aunt’s name.

    My in-law’s have a neighbor with daughters named Lily, Lila and Lola. Darling little girls, but I can’t keep their names straight (or get over that sib-set.)

    Reply

  11. I think Lila (lie-lah) is beautiful! I loved the combo Lila Grace until Kate Moss used it in 2002. Now it is a bit too popular for my taste. But still just as pretty!

    Reply

  12. I really think that Lila is one of the most beautiful names around. I was pulling for it when I was pregnant with Phoebe, but DH had an ex-girlfriend named Lila, so he said absolutely not. Now I admit I am relieved he wouldn’t let me use her, we know quite a few little Lilas (seems to be the preferred spelling around here) these days.

    Reply

  13. This is one of those names that makes me sigh a bit sadly. It would be one of my Top 5 names for a girl if it weren’t so popular. The lilting sound of it is so lovely.

    Reply

    • My name happens to be Lila. Thank you! Glad you like my
      Name. I used to be ashamed of my name because
      It wasn’t so popular and sounded old fashion.
      This ofcourse was some thirty yrs ago. I wouldn’t
      Change it for the world. I sweet,I think and so
      Was my grandmother whom I was named after.
      Don’t be sad popular is good sometimes,even common.

      Lila in Michigan

      Reply

  14. My husband just found an old list of name options that I wrote down for our daughter, who was born in 2005. I had Lila June on the list and it stood out to me now, as being one of the better choices on the list. I guess he wasn’t keen on it at the time though. And I wouldn’t add it to a current list either, with it’s rising popularity and closeness to Lily and Lola. Though I’ve not personally met any little Lilas locally.

    Reply

  15. Ah, Lila. If my first child had been a girl we would have named her Lila (lie-luh). But he came with boy parts, and Sam he became. I’m currently pregnant with my second son, but I don’t think we would have gone with Lila this time around if it had been a girl. I still think it’s a beautiful name and love the sound of it, but it really has skyrocketed in popularity. I think Laura Wattenberg even pegged it as the #1 girls name for 2019. It has all the makings to be another Ava. But still, it is a lovely name. Thanks for sharing it’s history!

    Reply

    • I think it is sweet and old-fashioned–one of those antique charm names. One of my grandmother’s friends is named Lila (She is 85). Over the years, whenever I heard my Gram say her name, I always thought how lovely it was. To me, it feels Southern and lady-like and confurs images of verandas and lemonade, etc. Not sure exactly why…. Just this summer it surfaced on my radar again, in the form of a little blonde-haired toddler playing on the floor outside my daughter’s ballet class. When her mother called her to pick up her toys, I remember thinking how refreshingly simple and elegant it sounded, especially attributed to a little girl. Still, even after all that praise for the name, I wouldn’t use it since I feel it sounds too similar to the uber-popular Lily and the trendy Lola.

      Reply

  16. Once upon a time I loved Lyla, Lila, Lily, Lola.. but man, the popularity today just puts me off.. I still think they are pretty, just not unique enough for my taste anymore.

    Reply

  18. I found several websites that claimed that Laila was an East-Indian variant of the Arabic name, Leila. The meaning given was dark/dusk, like in the Arabic name. This spelling variant makes sense when you take into account how Indian languages are usually transliterated into English. “Ai” is what is traditionally used to make the long “ie” sound, while both “i” and “ee” are used to create the long “ee” sound. In other words, in Sanskrit, both Lila and Leela would be pronounced “LEE-la”. The different choice in spelling might be based on what part of India the transliteration comes from. My best guess is that Leela is more North Indian while Lila is more popular in the south.

    Reply

  19. I think this name is going to be really huge. Before we knew our first son was a boy, this was the girl name in mind for a brief period of time. It changed when I saw the rise in popularity. It also bothered me that it seemed most Lila(h)s in tv and movies were evil, crazy and/or sluttty. Lilah on Angel was one of my favorite characters, but I wouldn’t want to name a baby after her. 😛 There was also the minor stalker character on the first season of Damages. I think the protagonist of the (very sexual) movie Lie With Me was Lila(h) too.

    Reply

  20. I think Lila/Lilah is very pretty. Too bad its gotten popular, and I really dislike the trendy looking Lyla.

    I do like the fact that Lila also happens to be the word for purple in several languages.

    Reply

  21. my niece is lilah (pronunced lie-la) so although maybe it wouldn’t have been my first choice i love it because of the accosiation! there was also a lilah in the tv show angel (she was an morally ambiguous lawyer)

    Reply

Trackbacks

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Visit Appellation Mountain's profile on Pinterest.