Name Awesome

Nala

#856 in 2025Girls' name

Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition

Nala has been given to 6,138 babies in the U.S. since 1979. In 2025 it ranked #856 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2019, with 428 recorded.

Babies named Nala, 2025

1 in 10,500

Nala over time, 1880–2025

Girls
020040060018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Nala: meaning, origin, and history

Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Nala means

Nala has more than one naming route in the cited origin entries: distinct naming traditions.

The naming story behind Nala

One of the source’s documented entries for Nala records a meaning of stem.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 6,138 girls were recorded with the name Nala between 1979 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 428 in 2019; its best national rank was #679 in 2019.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #695 in 2020 to #856 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #950 in 2015 to #856 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.

How common is Nala?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 10,500
317 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 5,070
0.02% of girls
Rank, 2025
#856
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
7,250 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Nala 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 5005%

Put another way: gather 7,250 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Nala. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Nalas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Nala was born before 2017 — so the typical Nala is around 8 today.

Median birth year
2017
About 8 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
46.2% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
93.9%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
6,138
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 46.2% of all recorded uses (2,837).

Is Nala 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
−103
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−161
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
+94
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.11×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
74.1%
Peak was 2019 (428)
Years since peak
6
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
15.4% average annual change
Best rank ever
#679
2019

Spellings of Nala

Nala is not the most common spelling — Sara is, with 7.4% against Nala's 0.10%.

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 Nala is used

Across 2016–2025, Nala was most concentrated in South Carolina — about 1 in 2,000 girls, against 1 in 3,980 across all states with data. It was least common in Oregon (1 in 25,000).

450 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1South Carolina1 in 2,000
  2. 2Georgia1 in 2,174
  3. 3Louisiana1 in 2,273
  4. 4North Carolina1 in 2,439
  5. 5Maryland1 in 3,030
  6. 6Florida1 in 3,125
  7. 7Virginia1 in 3,125
  8. 8Michigan1 in 3,226

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.

Geographically, Nala is somewhat regional — more concentrated than 34% of the names used widely enough to compare. See the most regional names

Nala around the world

Where Nala 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
    #590
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    2017–2023
    #749
    in 2023
  • Northern Ireland
    2025–2025
    #397
    in 2025
  • Ireland
    2022–2025
    #885
    in 2025
  • France
    1996–2025
    #1,675
    in 2025
  • Canada
    2008–2024
    #1,075
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    2001–2012
    #871
    in 2012

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Central Statistics Office, 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. 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 Nala

People whose public names include Nala, 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.

Nala by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#856
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 161
Best rank ever
#679
2019
Peak year
2019
428 that year
First recorded
1979
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
6,138
Count in 2025
317

Names similar to Nala

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

KalaNalaniTalaGalaJalaHalaLalaNalahNaliaNallelyMalaMahalaAyalaCalaNaliyahNalayaLealaKealaAlaNaleahPamalaKamalaSalaNeala

Names with a curve like Nala

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

EmmelineLivAmayahHarmoniHadleeAliannaScoutMarleighZayleeMilanaElliottEllianna

Sibling names for Nala

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 Nala

Top names of 2019, Nala's peak yearThe 2010s in fullOther names that peaked in 2019Girls' names starting with NDisney Heroine NamesMovie & TV Names