Lila

Locally spelled Leela in US United States, SE Sweden, TM Turkmenistan.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records, and ○ marks a model's transliteration; click a spelling to open its page.

Attested across 2 languages in the etymology graph.

Lila is one spelling over 4 language communities, and the dictionaries record it differently in 3 of them. Each row is what a source recorded for that language, beside the share of this name’s records the language holds. No single row is the name’s meaning.

• Hindi38%

  No dictionary in our sources glosses Lila in Hindi.

• English27%

  The play of god’s spirit manifested in the universe; divine play, creative spiritual energy.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• Spanish12%

  lilac (flower)

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• French5.5%

  Name used in several languages; often from Arabic Layla or as a diminutive of names like Liliane.

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

  Probable diminutif de Liliane; origine latine, « lis ».

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

The share is ours — how much of this name’s records each language holds. The sense beside it is the source’s, quoted and credited, including where it names a gender. We do not publish a gender of our own per language: our records carry one figure for the spelling as a whole.

Names that people choosing a name often weigh against Lila, most often first. They share a style rather than an origin.

• Isla
• Maya
• Kaia
• Delilah
• Nora
• Mira
• Cora
• Nina
• Kyla
• Kira
• Ivy
• Myla

From the names suggested together in public name-advice forums, in English. A list of what people consider, not a measure of how common any name is.

Lila is also recorded as 6 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• English given name24 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, India, Australia

  Languages: English, German, Norwegian

  Also written Lil-A, Li-La, Līlā, Lilâ, Lílá

• Spanish given name39 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Peru, Argentina, United States, Venezuela

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Italian

  Also written Lilá, Lilă, Lîlä, Lïlä, Lîlă

• a separate name7 spellings in the group

  Also written Līlā, Līla, Lilă, Lilā, Líla

• Russian given name38 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Russia, Poland, Ukraine, United States

  Languages: Russian, Polish, Ukrainian

  Also written Лила, Ліла, Leela, Lilla, Лйла

• Hungarian given name10 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India, United States, Hungary, Finland

  Languages: Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian

  Also written Lilä, Lįlä, Lïlä, Līlã, Lílá

• Chinese given name3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India, United States, China, Taiwan

  Languages: Chinese, Burmese

  Also written Li-La

48 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Lila is also recorded in 2 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• — žr. Lilius

  as a name·Lietuvių pavardžių žodynas (Dictionary of Lithuanian Surnames)

• Krsna (N)

  as a name·Sunama Sarit (Hindi) Ten Thousand Sanskrit Names

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

• Lila Bell Wallaceb. 1889USAmerican publisher and art collector (1889–1984)
• Lila Leeb. 1901USprominent screen actress of the silent film era (1901-1973)
• Lila Kedrovab. 1909FRactress (1909–2000)
• Lila Kayeb. 1929GBBritish actress (1929-2012)
• Diane Sawyerb. 1945USnot in their usual nameAmerican journalist
• Lila Abu-Lughodb. 1952USPalestinian-American anthropologist
• Lila Downsb. 1968MXMexican-American singer-songwriter
• Lila Tretikovb. 1978RURussian–American engineer, manager and former executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation
• Lila Avilésb. 1982MXMexican film director
• Lila Karib. 2000CARomanian and Canadian computer scientist

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

A formal English salutation is built on the surname, so it needs a full name — on its own, a first name only supports the informal form.

Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.

How do you pronounce Lila?

A machine transcription gives /lajlə/ (IPA) for Hindi.

What are other forms of the name Lila?

In the etymology graph, Lillian, Lilian and Leyla are forms of the same name in other languages.

Where does the name Lila come from?

Name used in several languages; often from Arabic Layla or as a diminutive of names like Liliane. Recorded by Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education).

Is Lila a male or female name?

Lila is a female name. National registers that list it by sex list it as female: United States (Census Bureau, 2020), France (INSEE, 2024), Poland (dane.gov.pl) and Brazil (IBGE, 2022), among others.

What does the name Lila mean?

In English, The play of god’s spirit manifested in the universe; divine play, creative spiritual energy.

In which country does Lila have the most bearers?

In the United States, the national register counted about 67 thousand people named Bella, more than in any other country we hold.

How common is the name Lila?

In Finland, the national register counted 1,190 people named Lila, about 1 in 4.7 thousand residents.

How common is Lila compared with other names?

In Algeria, Lila is the 216th most common given name of 27,215 given names recorded there.