Layla

What does Layla mean?

Layla means “night” in Arabic. Its history includes an old love story, a celebrated Persian literary retelling, and a twentieth-century rock song that carried the name to a much wider English-speaking audience.

The spelling is now familiar internationally, alongside Leila, Laila, and Leyla. In the United States, Layla's greatest popularity has come in the twenty-first century.

Layla and Majnun

In the old Arab story, Layla is the beloved of the poet Qays, also known as Majnun. Their romance became widely known in medieval Arabia and Persia.

The twelfth-century Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi retold it in Layla and Majnun. His version helped give the pair a lasting place in Persian literature, bringing the Arabic name into another major literary tradition.

The story's influence extends beyond the written poem. Artists repeatedly pictured the lovers, placing their encounters within carefully imagined settings and keeping the name visible across different forms of art.

The lovers in an illustrated manuscript

A painting in the Metropolitan Museum of Art shows Laila and Majnun meeting at school and falling in love. It belongs to a manuscript of Nizami's Khamsa, or Quintet, dated 1524–25.

The scene surrounds the lovers with the ordinary activities of a schoolyard: children read, practice handwriting, and prepare paper. Although the story is set in Arabia, the buildings reflect a Persian architectural setting.

That combination shows how the romance traveled. Layla's literary identity could remain recognizable while artists gave her world the visual details of their own place and period.

Layla in popular music

Derek and the Dominos released Layla in 1970. The song's title was inspired by the medieval lovers' story, connecting the band's music with a much older romance.

The group included Eric Clapton, Jim Gordon, Carl Radle, and Bobby Whitlock. Their album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs placed the name prominently in the title as well as in its track list.

The recording helped introduce Layla to English-speaking listeners who might not have encountered Nizami's poem. It gave the name a modern musical association while retaining a link with its older literary history.

Pronunciation and related spellings

English Layla is pronounced LAY-luh, with stress on the first syllable. Arabic pronunciation is closer to LYE-laa, with a different first vowel and a longer final vowel.

Laila, Leila, and Leyla are established variants. Forms such as Turkish Leyla and Persian Leili reflect the name's wider use across languages. The different spellings do not always guarantee the same pronunciation.

Layla in the United States

Layla reached both its largest annual American girls' count and its best national rank in 2019: 6,523 babies and No. 23. It ranked No. 30 in 2015 and No. 36 in 2025, remaining a widely used contemporary spelling.

How popular is Layla?

In 2025, Layla ranked #36 among girls in the United States, with 5,338 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for girls in 1950; its largest annual count was 6,523 in 2019. Rankings count each spelling separately. They describe national use, so local familiarity can differ. The popularity chart shows whether the name has remained common, returned after a quieter period, or risen recently.