MEANING & HISTORY
What does Leila mean?
Leila is a romanized spelling of Arabic Layla, a name associated with night. Nineteenth-century literature helped establish the spelling in English.
The Arabic personal name has a longer literary history of its own. Dark beauty is a poetic association rather than the exact root gloss. Leila and Layla belong to the same naming line without being identical recorded spellings.
References for this explanation
Pronunciation & syllables
Dictionary readings are kept by language. Select the reading that matches your intended pronunciation. Dots show the source’s written divisions; they are not a universal syllable count across languages.
Wiktionary contributors / Kaikki / Wiktextract · CC BY-SA 4.0
Origin and name formation
Language-specific accounts from the dictionary. A shared spelling can have more than one history.
EnglishEtymology & source
From Arabic لَيْلَى (laylā). Taken into English usage through nineteenth-century literature.
A female given name from Arabic.
SpanishEtymology & source
a female given name
Adapted from Wiktionary contributors via Kaikki/Wiktextract. Source accounts remain in their original English; editorial summaries and filters are adapted. Attribution and downloads
People with the name Leila
Public figures and other documented namesakes linked by an explicit given-name claim. This is a selection of records, not a popularity ranking.
DOCUMENTED NAMESAKE
Leila de Lima
Filipino politician
DOCUMENTED NAMESAKE
Leila Alcasid
Filipino singer (born 1997)
The record establishes the name association, not the person’s intended meaning, pronunciation or ancestry. Descriptions are attributed to Wikidata contributors (CC0).
Use in Philippine-linked records
Public-record transcription
1
eligible source records · 2001
This spelling is reported in an openly licensed transcription of elected-candidate records. This is a record count, not a birth count or national popularity measure.
OpenHalalan / COMELEC ↗Wikidata
3
distinct person records with an explicit given-name claim
Community-edited coverage, not a census or birth registry. Examples: Leila de Lima, Leila Alcasid
PSA · OFFICIAL BIRTH RECORDS
Leila in the birth records
Exact spelling and stated year in the published name tables. Read the counts as individual snapshots.
Tables included: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024. The 2016 fact sheet lists five names per sex; the later tables include ten. Missing counts are not inferred. Sex categories follow the official tables, independently of dictionary gender labels. Explore the official tables →
Similar names to Leila
Names with a similar opening or ending, ordered by spelling distance. Similar spelling does not imply the same meaning or origin.
Names in this collection
- Asila♀Of noble origin in the Arabic name tradition
- Lea·Form of Leah; biblical name with disputed root
- Leif♂Heir, inheritor, or a surviving remnant
- Leilani♀Heavenly lei or royal garland
- Lelia·Italian form of the Roman name Laelia
- Lena♀Short form of Helena or Magdalena
- Leona♀Feminine form of Leon; lion
- Lucila♀Spanish/Portuguese Lucilla, familiar to Lucia
What rhymes with Leila?
Matches share a dictionary-supplied rhyme key in the stated language. Check the recorded reading; another language or accent can change the rhyme.
Explore Leila further
Follow the sources
- OpenHalalan — pinned 2001 COMELEC transcription (opens in a new tab)
Source-reported given-name form in a row with a separate explicit middle initial; ODbL-1.0.
- COMELEC — 2001 List of Elected Candidates (opens in a new tab)
Original document identified by the transcription; selected PDF entries were spot-checked, not every imported row.
- Wikidata given-name item Q1607500 — Leila (opens in a new tab)
Given-name identity, native labels, language associations and explicit class where present; not lexical meaning or population frequency.
- Wikidata — Leila de Lima (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q1607500 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wikidata — Leila Alcasid (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q1607500 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wiktionary contributors — Leila (English) (opens in a new tab)
Language-specific given-name etymology; shared spelling does not prove every bearer has this origin.
- Wiktionary contributors — Leila (Spanish) (opens in a new tab)
Language-specific given-name etymology; shared spelling does not prove every bearer has this origin.
- Wiktionary: Leila (opens in a new tab)
Personal-name formation and etymological relationships; imported dictionary account consulted.
- Behind the Name: leila (opens in a new tab)
Independent source-name account consulted for formation and any qualifications.