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Ila

girl name
Origin
Sanskrit
Syllables
2
Peak era
1900s/2020s
Today
▬ Steady

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Meaning

earth (a Vedic goddess)

The story

Ila enters Sanskrit with more than one meaning: earth, speech, even the nourishing image of a cow. Later Hindu stories make the name more mobile still. In one family of tellings, Ila moves between male and female forms, becomes the partner of Budha, and gives birth to Pururavas, an ancestor claimed by a great royal line. The versions do not all agree, and older Vedic references cannot simply be folded into one tidy biography. That uncertainty is part of the story. Ila has lasted because the figure crosses boundaries that a short summary would rather keep fixed: land and language, parent and ruler, one gendered life and another. It would be careless to paste a modern identity label onto an ancient text. It would be equally careless to erase the transformations those texts preserve. Ila is a small name with room for a genuinely complicated inheritance.

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How popular is Ila around the world?

In the United States, 2,407 babies were named Ila between 2020 and 2025.

Ila is on the official records of the United States, Canada, England and Wales, Brazil and Spain.

United States

1 in 9,100

In the United States, 2,407 babies were named Ila between 2020 and 2025.

peak 1900s2020s

Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Ila peaked in the 1900s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.

Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration

See the full list for the United States →

Canada

1 in 22,000

In Canada, 17 girls named Ila were born in 2024, ranked 1,399th among girls that year.

1991peak 2022

share of that year’s name registrations

First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)

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England and Wales

1 in 98,000

In England and Wales, 6 girls named Ila were born in 2025, ranked 3,705th among girls that year.

1996peak 2018

share of that year’s name registrations

Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales

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Brazil

1 in 140,000

At the 2022 census, 1,387 people in Brazil were named Ila, ranked 6,625th, with a median age of 45.
Among people named Ila living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1960s than in any other decade.

1930speak 1960s2010s

people alive at the 2022 census, by decade of birth

The census also counted 30 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart. People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022

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Spain

1 in 1.5M

In Spain, 29 residents are named Ila, ranked 22,645th among women, with a mean age of 12.9 years.

Residents of Spain on 1 January 2025. Spain publishes how old a name’s living bearers are, not a birth series, so there is no year chart. Source: INE (Spain), Censo de Población anual, 1 January 2025

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Argentina

last on record 2023

Ila is not on the 2024 record for Argentina, where small counts are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 2 in a year, too few to chart.

Given-name components of births in Argentina 2012–2024; national cells are lower bounds and no sex split is published. Source: RENAPER (Argentina), Dirección Nacional de Población, given names 2012-2024

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Austria

last on record 2024

Ila is not on the 2025 record for Austria, which publishes every first name down to a single birth, so the name was not given there that year.
The count never rose above 1 in a year, too few to chart.

Live births in Austria by year of birth, 1984–2025, from Statistik Austria’s first-name statistics; spellings that differ only by special characters are counted together (umlauts stay apart), every name down to a single birth is published, and the count covers babies with Austrian citizenship only until 2009, every baby from 2010, and from 2015 also births abroad to mothers living in Austria. Shares divide by Statistik Austria’s count of live births from 2010, and before that by the file’s own total for the year. Source: Statistik Austria - data.statistik.gv.at (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1, updated 2026-07-09)

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Montevideo City

last on record 1976

Ila is not on the 2011 record for Montevideo, whose registry withholds nothing, so the spelling was not given there that year.
The count never rose above 2 in a year, too few to chart.

Births in the department of Montevideo (not all of Uruguay) by first name and year of birth, 1940–2011, from the city’s civil registry, which writes names in capitals, almost always without accents; counted as spelling groups (accent and punctuation variants merged), nothing is withheld at source, and 2012 is excluded as a partial year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil, Intendencia de Montevideo, Partidas de Registro Civil de Montevideo (Licencia de Datos Abiertos - Uruguay); 2012 dropped as partial

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Poland

last on record 2021

Ila is not on the 2025 record for Poland, where names given fewer than 2 times in a year are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 2 in a year, too few to chart.

First names given to children born in Poland by year of birth, 2000–2025, from the PESEL population register (Ministry of Digital Affairs); exact spellings count separately (Łukasz and Lukasz are different names), names given fewer than 5 times in a year were left off the list through 2012 and fewer than 2 times from 2013, and the register also counts children born abroad, so its yearly sums run above Poland’s live births. Shares divide by the register’s own published total for the year, never by births. Source: Ministry of Digital Affairs, PESEL register (dane.gov.pl)

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South Australia

last on record 2016

Ila is not on the 2017 record for South Australia, whose registry publishes every name given that year.
The count never rose above 4 in a year, too few to chart.

Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names

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Not on the record in Mexico City, Puerto Rico, Ireland, New Zealand and Scotland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.

Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.

All records: the most popular baby names around the world →

When you meet Ila

People given the name Ila in the United States span the generations: the middle half were born anywhere from 1940 to 2025. Age is the one thing the name won't tell you.

Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.

Names that fit alongside Ila

Aditi Avani Amrita Radhika Nalini Saanvi

Keep exploring

Indian baby names · Short names

The Ila deep dive

Written for you · $1.99 →

Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Ila truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Ila fits with your family’s names and surname.

Both reports, explained →

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