Leyla
Leyla is a girls' name of Turkish origin meaning “night, dark-haired beauty, born at night.” It ranked #611 in the United States in 2025. Leyla is the Turkish form of Layla, immortalized in the Persian-Turkish epic 'Leyla and Mecnun,' one of the greatest…
how do you pronounce Leyla?
LAY-lah
Hear it spoken aloud with our AI pronunciation tool.
what does Leyla mean?
The name Leyla means “night, dark-haired beauty, born at night.” It comes from the Turkish language tradition.
Leyla is the Turkish form of Layla, immortalized in the Persian-Turkish epic 'Leyla and Mecnun,' one of the greatest love stories in Islamic literature. Leyla represents the unattainable beloved whose beauty drives Mecnun (Majnun) to divine madness, making the name synonymous with transcendent, all-consuming love.
where does the name Leyla come from?
Wikipedia treats Leyla as one of many Latin-alphabet spellings of Leila/Layla — alongside Layla, Laylah, Laila, and Leylah — a feminine given name of Arabic origin. It gives no specific meaning breakdown, so the night/dark-haired-beauty gloss given elsewhere isn't confirmed by this source.
the history of Leyla
Per Wikipedia the name (in its various spellings) is popular across the Middle East, Iran, Turkey, and Palestine, as well as the Nordic countries, India, and the Anglosphere, but the source says nothing about the Leyla and Mecnun literary epic referenced elsewhere.
how popular is this name?
| Year | Rank |
|---|---|
| 2025 | #611 |
| 2024 | #600 |
| 2023 | #604 |
| 2022 | #594 |
| 2021 | #672 |
| 2020 | #586 |
Source: SSA National Baby Names Dataset
what are the nicknames and variants of Leyla?
Variants around the world
who are famous people named Leyla?
- Leyla Gencer (legendary Turkish opera soprano)
- Leyla Zana (Kurdish-Turkish politician and Sakharov Prize laureate)
what names are similar to Leyla?
what names go well with Leyla?
Sibling names that share Leyla's rhythm and register without echoing it too closely.
Last reviewed April 30, 2026 · Curated by HushName editorial
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