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Leela

#1,282 in 2025Girls' name

Lilac, through Lila

Leela has been given to 4,545 babies in the U.S. since 1898. In 2025 it ranked #1,282 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2016, with 232 recorded.

Babies named Leela, 2025

1 in 18,900

Leela over time, 1880–2025

Girls
010020030018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Leela: meaning, origin, and history

Lilac, through Lila

Sanskrit

What Leela means

Leela belongs to the name family reached through Leela → Lila. Its meaning is “lilac”.

Origin, language, and formation

Leela is used in English. Its origins include Sanskrit.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Lila.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 4,545 girls were recorded with the name Leela between 1898 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 232 in 2016; its best national rank was #1,088 in 2013.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #1,194 in 2020 to #1,282 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #1,207 in 2015 to #1,282 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 Leela?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 18,900
175 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 9,180
0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#1,282
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
13,132 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Leela 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 5003%

Put another way: gather 13,132 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Leela. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Leelas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Leela was born before 2014 — so the typical Leela is around 11 today.

Median birth year
2014
About 11 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
44.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
86.8%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
4,514
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 44.8% of all recorded uses (2,034).

Is Leela 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
−20
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−88
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−75
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.85×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
75.4%
Peak was 2016 (232)
Years since peak
9
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Steady
10.1% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,088
2013

Spellings of Leela

Leela is not the most common spelling — Ella is, with 17.8% against Leela's 0.23%.

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 Leela is used

Across 2016–2025, Leela was most concentrated in Minnesota — about 1 in 4,000 girls, against 1 in 8,062 across all states with data. It was least common in Indiana (1 in 50,000).

225 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Minnesota1 in 4,000
  2. 2Illinois1 in 5,263
  3. 3California1 in 5,556
  4. 4New York1 in 5,556
  5. 5Massachusetts1 in 6,250
  6. 6New Jersey1 in 6,250
  7. 7Washington1 in 6,667
  8. 8Georgia1 in 7,692

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.

Leela around the world

Where Leela 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
    #719
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    2014–2018
    #502
    in 2018
  • Northern Ireland
    2016–2017
    #355
    in 2017
  • France
    2000–2025
    #3,094
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1993–2024
    #1,709
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1973–2013
    #536
    in 2013

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

Notable people named Leela

People whose public names include Leela, 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.

Leela by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#1,282
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 88
Best rank ever
#1,088
2013
Peak year
2016
232 that year
First recorded
1898
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
4,545
Count in 2025
175

Names similar to Leela

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

LeenaLeeahLeesaIselaKaelaLeeannaLeenJaelaLeeanneLeeannGiselaArielaAnelaLaelaLeebaAdelaNeelaLeeanaKeelaEstelaLeezaRafaelaLeelahLeeyah

Names with a curve like Leela

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

ElleryKaleahRayleeMayleeEllisonDalilahMaiteKeilyAustynViviannaJurneeLandry

Sibling names for Leela

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 Leela

Top names of 2016, Leela's peak yearThe 2010s in fullOther names that peaked in 2013Girls' names starting with LIndian Girl NamesIndian NamesSanskrit Girl NamesSanskrit NamesTelugu Girl Names