Is Layla an Arabic name? What does it mean? Read on to find out more, including the meaning of the name Layla, its origin, pronunciation and if relevant, popularity.
What does Layla mean in Arabic?
Layla means night.
Layla, and its many spelling variations, have boomed in popularity since the mid-90s. This name was popularised in the West by the poetic works of Byron, who wrote a poem called ‘Don Juan’ for a little girl called Leila.
However, it holds literary significance in Eastern culture too, most notably from the story of ‘Layla Majnoon’, a 7th century Arabian love story. This poignant story is passed on to Turkish, Persian, Indian and Turkman tradition too, with the love of ‘Layla and Majnoon’ becoming a hugely influential literary theme.
A loose summary of the story is that Qays and Layla both fall deeply and madly in love with each – so madly that Qays earns the title ‘Majnoon’, meaning ‘crazy’ or ‘posessed by a jinn’. Qays asks for Layla’s hand in marriage, however Layla’s father refuses and instead marries Layla to a rich tradesman in a far away town. When Qays finds out, he abandons his family and village and begins to wander in the surrounding desert area searching for his love, becoming insane. According to the narrative, Layla falls ill from heartbreak and dies.
Layla is a female name.
Popularity of the name Layla
Layla is an incredibly popular name, in both Arabic countries and Western countries. Forebears.io considers it the world’s 839th most popular name!
It ranks in the top 100 names in Australia, Scotland, Ireland, Finland, England and New Zealand.
With the spelling ‘Laila’, this name ranks in the top 100 most popular names in over 12 countries, including Arabic countries (Lebanon, Morocco, Kuwait, Iraq etc) and non-Arabic countries (Afghanistan, Greenland and Norway).
How to write Layla in Arabic:
Layla is written as لیلیٰ
How to pronounce Layla:
Layla is pronounced Lay-laa.
Spelling variations of Layla
Leila, Laila, Leyla