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Illya

UnisexBoys' nameGirls' name

Form of Elijah

Illya has been given to 404 babies in the U.S. since 1965. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1966, with 78 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 90% boys, 10% girls all-time.

Babies named Illya, 2024

1 in 669,000

Illya over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
02040608018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Girls or boys — Illya over time

In 2024, Illya went to 62% girls and 38% boys.

19652024

A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.

Illya: meaning, origin, and history

Form of Elijah

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Illya means

Illya is a form of Elijah.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Illya is used in Ukrainian.

Another recorded pronunciation is /ilʲ.ˈlʲɐ/ for Illya.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Illya → Elijah. The family’s meaning is “Yahweh is my god”, recorded in English with the source elements Eliyahu.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Elijah.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 365 boys were recorded with the name Illya between 1965 and 2024. Its highest annual count was 78 in 1966; its best national rank was #829 in 1966.

In the United States, 39 girls were recorded with the name Illya between 1965 and 2024. Its highest annual count was 11 in 1966; its best national rank was #4,045 in 1966.

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 Illya?

Illya had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2024, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2024
1 in 669,000
5 of 3,342,801 births
Among boys only
1 in 345,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2024
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
463,412 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Illya sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2024 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 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 463,412 children born in 2024 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Illya. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Illyas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Illya was born before 1968 — so the typical Illya is around 57 today.

Median birth year
1968
About 57 years old
Biggest decade
1960s
58.4% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
9.3%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
365
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1960s — 58.4% of all recorded uses (213).

Is Illya 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
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
New entry
Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
0%
Peak was 1966 (78)
Years since peak
59
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
32.8% average annual change
Best rank ever
#829
1966

Spellings of Illya

Illya is not the most common spelling — Billy is, with 96.7% against Illya's 0.09%.

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 Illya is used

Across 1910–2025, Illya was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 1,297,784 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —
  2. 2Georgia1 in —
  3. 3Louisiana1 in —
  4. 4New York1 in —
  5. 5South Carolina1 in —
  6. 6Texas1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys 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. Illya has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Illya around the world

Where Illya 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
    2009–2016
    #4,810
    in 2016
  • South Australia
    1969–2001
    #581
    in 2001

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Illya by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#829
1966
Peak year
1966
78 that year
First recorded
1965
Last recorded
2024
All-time count
365
Count in 2025
Under 5

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#4,045
1966
Peak year
1966
11 that year
First recorded
1965
Last recorded
2024
All-time count
39
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Illya

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

ElyaIlyaIlliasGedalyaIllianIlliamIllidanIllyasKolyaIllijahIllinoisKaivalya

Sibling names for Illya

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 Illya

Top names of 1966, Illya's peak yearThe 1960s in fullOther names that peaked in 1966Boys' names starting with IUkrainian Boy NamesUkrainian Names