Lilah
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Meaning
variant of Leila, "night"
The story
Lilah is a name two traditions can claim without quarreling. Our records file it under the Arabic road, a variant of Leila, the night; it is also the tail of Delilah worn alone. Either way the sound is the same soft double-l that this century cannot get enough of. The record shows a century of near-silence, between about 60 and 285 every decade from the 1890s through the 1990s, then the wave: about 3,400 in the 2000s, 10,800 in the 2010s, and 8,800 so far this decade. It charts separately from Lila, Layla, Leila and Delilah, and together that sound-family is one of the era's largest. One figure is absolute: not a single boy in the whole record, 24,600 girls to zero. Night as a meaning, music as a sound, and a spelling with just enough h to feel antique: the package explains itself.
The formal names behind Lilah
Lilah is an established short form of this name.
Delilah · Hebrew origin · delicate, weak, languishing
Lilah across languages
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
How popular is Lilah around the world?
In the United States, 8,801 babies were named Lilah between 2020 and 2025. In Scotland, 40 girls named Lilah were registered in 2024, the 108th most common name among girls that year.
Lilah is on the official records of the United States, Scotland, England and Wales, New Zealand, South Australia, Ireland, Canada, France and Brazil.
United States
1 in 2,500
In the United States, 8,801 babies were named Lilah between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Lilah peaked in the 2020s.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Scotland
1 in 1,100
In Scotland, 40 girls named Lilah were registered in 2024, the 108th most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Births registered in Scotland; different spellings count separately but accents are merged at source, and any spelling under 3 in total is suppressed. Source: National Records of Scotland, babies' first names
England and Wales
1 in 1,300
In England and Wales, 464 girls named Lilah were born in 2025, the 99th most common name among girls that year.
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
New Zealand
1 in 1,700
In New Zealand, 33 girls named Lilah were registered in 2025.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from New Zealand birth registrations, grouped by registration year; any name under 10 in a year is excluded at source. Shares divide by Stats NZ’s count of births registered to mothers living in New Zealand, under 1% below the registry’s own count. Source: Department of Internal Affairs (New Zealand), baby name popularity over time
South Australia
1 in 1,8002017
In South Australia, 10 girls were registered as Lilah in 2017.
share of that year’s name registrations
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
Ireland
1 in 2,300
In Ireland, 24 girls named Lilah were born in 2025, the 186th most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Exact registered spellings from Irish vital statistics; any name under 3 in a year is withheld at source, and accented spellings (fadas) are recorded reliably only from 2018. Source: Central Statistics Office (Ireland), Irish babies' names
Canada
1 in 3,000
In Canada, 121 girls named Lilah were born in 2024, the 233rd most common name among girls that year.
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)
France
1 in 130,000
In France, about 5 girls named Lilah were born in 2025, ranked 3,756th among girls that year.
share of that year’s births on record
Births in France by year of birth, from INSEE’s fichier des prénoms (1900–2025; Mayotte from 2012); exact spellings count separately (Léo and Leo are different names), any spelling under 3 in a year and sex is withheld at source, every count is rounded to the nearest 5 at source, and nametree keeps the spellings that reached 20 in some year. Shares divide by INSEE’s count of births in France from 1957, and before that by the file’s own total for the year; INSEE says the file is not complete before 1946. Source: Insee, fichier des prénoms (last updated 2026-07-16)
Argentina
last on record 2014
Lilah is not on the 2024 record for Argentina, where small counts are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 3 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
Austria
last on record 2024
Lilah 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 2 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)
Brazil
At the 2022 census, 44 people in Brazil were named Lilah, ranked 72,674th, with a median age of 20.
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
Montevideo City
last on record 2008
Lilah 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 1 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
Not on the record in Spain, Mexico City, Puerto Rico and Poland: 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 Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
When you meet Lilah
Most people given the name Lilah 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.
Keep exploring
Names like Lilah · Names that go with Lilah · Middle names for Lilah · Nickname-proof names
The Lilah deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Lilah 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 Lilah fits with your family’s names and surname.
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