Leela Girl
How popular is Leela?
#1,279 girl name in 2025
175 baby girls were named Leela in the US in 2025, making it the 1279th most popular girl name.
Leela popularity over time
| Rank in 2025 | #1,279 for girls (▼ 20 from 2024) |
|---|---|
| Babies in 2025 | 175 girls |
| 10-year trend | Falling (-15% babies vs 2015) |
| Earlier ranks | #1,204 in 2015, #1,194 in 2020 |
| Peak year | 2016 (232 girls) |
| Highest rank | #1,086 in 2013 |
| First recorded | 1898 |
| Boys vs girls (last 10 years) | 0% boys, 100% girls |
| Chance a classmate shares it | 0.1% in a class of 25 kids born in 2025 |
Leela counting every spelling
Social Security counts each spelling as its own name. Adding together the spellings that sound alike, the Leela family of names ranked #1,029 for girls in 2025 (#1,027 the year before), with 194 babies in all.
| Spelling | Girls in 2025 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Leela | 175 | 90% |
| Leelah | 19 | 10% |
Spellings are grouped by how they sound, using our own rules, so a few groupings may not match how your family says the name.
Where Leela is most popular
Babies named Leela per 1,000 girls born in each state, 2021 to 2025. Darker means more common.
- Minnesota: 0.2 per 1,000 (24 girls)
- New Jersey: 0.2 per 1,000 (34 girls)
- Illinois: 0.2 per 1,000 (42 girls)
- New York: 0.2 per 1,000 (71 girls)
- California: 0.2 per 1,000 (135 girls)
Leela by decade
| Decade | Baby girls | Best rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1890s | 5 | #1,699 |
| 1910s | 5 | #4,807 |
| 1920s | 5 | #4,973 |
| 1940s | 16 | #4,418 |
| 1950s | 17 | #4,653 |
| 1960s | 47 | #4,197 |
| 1970s | 109 | #4,361 |
| 1980s | 158 | #3,526 |
| 1990s | 194 | #3,998 |
| 2000s | 864 | #1,593 |
| 2010s | 2,034 | #1,086 |
| 2020s | 1,091 | #1,194 |
Girl names about as popular as Leela
Questions
- Is Leela a boy or girl name?
- Leela is mostly a girl name. Over the last 10 years, 100% of babies named Leela were girls.
- How popular is the name Leela?
- 175 baby girls were named Leela in the US in 2025, making it the 1279th most popular girl name.
- When was Leela most popular?
- Leela peaked in 2016, when 232 girls were given the name. Its highest rank was #1,086 in 2013.
- How many people are named Leela?
- 4,545 babies have been named Leela in the US since 1880. We estimate about 4,480 of them are alive in 2026, with a median age of 12.
- Where is Leela most popular?
- From 2021 to 2025, Leela was most common in Minnesota, at 0.2 of every 1,000 girls born there.
Source: Social Security Administration baby name data, 1880 to 2025 (names given to at least 5 babies of a sex in a year). Living-people and median-age figures are our estimates using US life tables. How we calculate.