Lylah
Meaning
variant of Leila (Arabic 'night') or a feminine form of Lyle (Norman French 'island')
The story
Lylah is one spelling with two possible histories, and Behind the Name declines to choose: a variant of Leila, or a feminine form of Lyle. The first road leads to Arabic layla, night, the name at the heart of the old Layla and Majnun story, carried into English by Lord Byron's poems. The second leads to a Norman French surname, l'isle, island. Night or island, the record cannot say. What the record can say is that the spelling is older than it looks: 12 girls in the 1910s and 26 in the 1920s, generations early. The count then falls to a stray five or nothing for six straight decades before the modern wave arrives: 30 girls in the 1990s, then 964, then 4,428 in the 2010s, and 3,077 so far this decade. Behind the Name ranks it 468th in England and Wales and 584th in the United States for 2025. Two etymologies, one bedtime-soft sound, and a record that keeps growing either way.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Lylah peaked in the 2010s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
When you meet Lylah
Most people given the name Lylah 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 Lylah deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Lylah 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 Lylah fits with your family’s names and surname.
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