Leyla
Meaning
night (Turkish spelling of Layla, the classic Layla and Majnun romance)
The story
Leyla is the Turkish spelling of one of the most retold love stories in the world. The name comes from the Arabic word for night, and it belongs to the heroine of Layla and Majnun, the classical romance in which the poet Qays loves Leyla so completely that the world calls him Majnun, the madman. Turkish families have given the name for generations, and the same story hums behind every spelling, from Layla to Leila. American parents came to this version late: Leyla scarcely appears in US records before the 1970s, then climbed patiently, decade after decade, and the current era is its strongest yet. It arrives with a ready-made bedtime story and a meaning that fits it perfectly: a name like nightfall, quiet, dark, and full of poetry.
Leyla 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
More branches
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Leyla peaked in the 2010s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
1,150 people · the #7,527 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 166,667 · median age 38
Among people named Leyla living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1980s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 30 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Leyla
Most people given the name Leyla in the United States are children or teenagers today. The name belongs to this generation.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Leyla deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Leyla 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 Leyla fits with your family’s names and surname.
Keep exploring
Names like Leyla · Middle names for Leyla · Turkish baby names
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