How rare is the name Lela?

12,330 people in the United States have the first name Lela, about 1 in 24,496. It ranks #2,159 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

LELA

#2,159

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
12,330
About
1 in 24,496
This common or more
78.8%
Who bears it

Of the 12,330 people named Lela, 65.3% reported their origin as White, 22.2% as Black and 5.1% as Hispanic or Latino. Virtually all are female (99.8%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Lela peaked in 1921, when 907 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
1921
Births that year
907
In 2025*
76 ▼92%
Recorded as
almost entirely female

At least 43,073 babies have been given the name since 1880. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Lela by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1890s, when it ranked #172. The largest share of babies named Lela, 40.7%, were born between 1901 and 1927, the Greatest Generation's birth years.

1880s#2131,920
1890s#1723,892
1900s#2004,473
1910s#3437,019
1920s#4127,869
1930s#5384,641
1940s#7483,362
1950s#1,0552,382
1960s#1,4501,478
1970s#1,8841,068
1980s#2,378864
1990s#3,444687
2000s#2,6521,380
2010s#2,7321,467
2020s#3,673571
Before 190114.7%
Greatest Generation 1901–2740.7%
Silent Generation 1928–4518.6%
Baby boom 1946–6410.6%
Generation X 1965–804.1%
Millennials 1981–962.9%
Generation Z 1997–124.8%
2013 and later3.7%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Lela is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Lela has been most common in Mississippi (4.7×), Arkansas (3.9×), and Oklahoma (3.9×), and least common in Maryland (0.1×).

27,478 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Lela

#2,157 Aleah · 12,345#2,158 Amani · 12,337#2,160 Shiloh · 12,323#2,161 Salma · 12,322

Spelled almost the same

8 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Lela, most common first.

#1,093 Leila · 37,753#2,595 Leyla · 9,255#3,487 Leola · 5,946#4,028 Lelia · 4,819#4,162 Leela · 4,611#15,037 Lelah · 772#17,205 Leala · 645#20,564 Lele · 501

Also a last name

As a last name, Lela ranks #116,774 of 156,621, with 158 people. See Lela as a last name

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