Lela
Meaning
variant of Leila, night
Lela around the world
One shared root links 7 names across 3 languages.
Shared root: from Arabic layl "night", spread by the seventh-century romance of Layla and Majnun
The constellation
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Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Lela peaked in the 1890s and the 1920s in nearly equal measure.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
215 people · the #24,146 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 1,000,000 · median age 56
Among people named Lela living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1970s than in any other decade.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Lela
People given the name Lela in the United States span the generations: the middle half were born anywhere from 1940 to 2009. 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.
The Lela deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Lela 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 Lela fits with your family’s names and surname.
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