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Ilana

#2,496 in 2025Girls' name

Possibly noble, through Alana

Ilana has been given to 5,678 babies in the U.S. since 1946. In 2025 it ranked #2,496 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1992, with 135 recorded.

Babies named Ilana, 2025

1 in 46,700

Ilana over time, 1880–2025

Girls
05010015018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Ilana: meaning, origin, and history

Possibly noble, through Alana

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Ilana means

Ilana belongs to the name family reached through Ilana → Alana → Alan. Its meaning is “noble”.

Origin, language, and formation

Ilana is used in English.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Alana and Alan.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 5,678 girls were recorded with the name Ilana between 1946 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 135 in 1992; its best national rank was #1,184 in 1987.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #2,227 in 2020 to #2,496 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #2,267 in 2015 to #2,496 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Ilana?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 46,700
71 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 22,600
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#2,496
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
32,366 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Ilana sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 5001%

Put another way: gather 32,366 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Ilana. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Ilanas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Ilana was born before 1997 — so the typical Ilana is around 28 today.

Median birth year
1997
About 28 years old
Biggest decade
1990s
21.3% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
42.2%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
5,666
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1990s — 21.3% of all recorded uses (1,211).

Is Ilana rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−50
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−269
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−229
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.86×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
52.6%
Peak was 1992 (135)
Years since peak
33
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Steady
11.6% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,184
1987

Spellings of Ilana

Ilana is not the most common spelling — Diana is, with 13.6% against Ilana's 0.21%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Ilana is used

Across 2016–2025, Ilana was most concentrated in New York — about 1 in 8,333 girls, against 1 in 19,467 across all states with data. It was least common in Virginia (1 in 100,000).

112 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1New York1 in 8,333
  2. 2Florida1 in 14,286
  3. 3California1 in 20,000
  4. 4Maryland1 in 20,000
  5. 5New Jersey1 in 20,000
  6. 6Pennsylvania1 in 20,000
  7. 7Arizona1 in 25,000
  8. 8Illinois1 in 25,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Ilana around the world

Where Ilana ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2025
    #1,454
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    1995–1995
    #639
    in 1995
  • Ireland
    2006–2009
    #742
    in 2009
  • France
    1971–2025
    #1,165
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1991–2024
    #2,463
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1970–2008
    #796
    in 2008

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Ilana

People whose public names include Ilana, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Ilana in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Ilana. Linked forms have their own page here.

LanaIlonaLianaIllanaLilana

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Ilana by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#2,496
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 269
Best rank ever
#1,184
1987
Peak year
1992
135 that year
First recorded
1946
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
5,678
Count in 2025
71

Names similar to Ilana

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

IyanaLeanaLuanaJeanaJoanaIvanaElanaGianaIlahTyanaKeanaAyanaIleanaQianaIlaniCianaSavanaBryanaChanaSanaRianaTwanaJohanaKyana

Names with a curve like Ilana

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Ilana, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

ShiraAnnalisaDanaeAmberlyShoshanaMarcelaStormyDesireKeturahAnamariaJordanaArianne

Sibling names for Ilana

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Ilana

Top names of 1992, Ilana's peak yearThe 1990s in fullOther names that peaked in 1987Girls' names starting with I