Lila - Too trendy?

Girl Names
1

[name_m]Hi[/name_m] Berries,

So my husband and I are still at it trying to find the perfect name for our little girl. [name_f]Lila[/name_f] has been a name that I’ve always loved. It was at the top of our list if our son was a girl (back in 2011), but now it’s starting to feel trendy to me. My husband brought it up the other day, wondering why it was taken off the table, and my response was popularity. But when I looked it up on SSA it’s actually less popular than some of the other names we considered ([name_f]Audrey[/name_f], [name_f]Violet[/name_f], [name_u]Vivian[/name_u], [name_f]Claire[/name_f], etc.) – #192 in 2013, 182 in '12, 163 in '11, and 155 in '10. Why does it seem more popular than it actually is–the spelling variations, maybe? I’d love to hear your thoughts on the name. Is it too popular? Too trendy among all the Lilys, Lolas, Islas, etc.? [name_f]Do[/name_f] you think it’s going to sound as overdone as [name_f]Lily[/name_f], [name_f]Ava[/name_f], [name_f]Ella[/name_f] in the next few years?

As always, I appreciate your thoughts.

[name_f]Rachel[/name_f]

2

I don’t think [name_f]Lila[/name_f] is all that trendy. I think it does somewhat fit into the same mold as [name_f]Lily[/name_f], [name_f]Lola[/name_f], [name_f]Isla[/name_f], etc. because they have similar sounds and letters, but I think [name_f]Lila[/name_f] can still stand on her own. I’ve always found [name_f]Lila[/name_f] to be so spunky and sultry (I know, that is such a weird thought to have about a baby). If anything, I think [name_f]Lila[/name_f] is dropping in popularity and will probably be somewhere in the 200s on this year’s SSA list.I think it feels more popular because there are so many “similar” names, but I have never actually met a [name_f]Lila[/name_f], nor do I hear it all that often. I think it’s a lovely choice!

3

it seems very trendy to me :frowning:

4

It doesn’t seem trendy to me, but then again I love the name so maybe I’m bias. :wink: At #192 in 2013, that isn’t popular at all [name_f]IMO[/name_f]. Any in the top 20 are popular, those out of it not so much. With [name_f]Lila[/name_f] being so far out of the top 20, I don’t think you need to worry about it. However, if it bothers you, possibly look up spelling variations ([name_f]Lilah[/name_f] and [name_f]Lyla[/name_f]) and see if they’re popular names? Like someone said, I think it feels popular because of more popular names (e.g. [name_f]Lily[/name_f]), but [name_f]Lila[/name_f] itself isn’t.

5

I love this name and have never heared it in real life

6

It’s a beautiful name. I’ve only ever met 3.

7

[name_f]Lila[/name_f] is a gorgeous name. I’ve only ever met one. I don’t see it as being a trendy name. Yes, L names are becoming popular but I mostly think of [name_f]Lily[/name_f] and [name_f]Isla[/name_f]. I would go for it! :slight_smile:

8

I don’t know of any [name_f]Lilas[/name_f]…the closest names I know are [name_f]Lily[/name_f] & [name_f]Lilia[/name_f], although those are teen & tween names for me.

9

I like the name lila. Id say its right on trend with a lot of the names at the moment but i dont know if id say its trendy. If u wanted slightly removed choice id probably go with delilah. Less people seem to like it than lila

10

Thank you for your thoughts! I feel better about it now. :slight_smile:

11

I struggled with the name [name_f]Lila[/name_f] for the same reason. I removed it from my list because of the popularity of [name_f]Layla[/name_f]/[name_f]Laila[/name_f]/[name_f]Leila[/name_f]. When spellings are combined [name_f]Layla[/name_f] is practically a top ten name, and [name_f]Lila[/name_f] is very similar. This might be why the name feels trendier to you than it is.

12

I seriously love [name_f]Lila[/name_f] and I’ve had the same concerns as you have as to whether it’s too trendy. Inspired by this article 2013 Playground Analysis: How combined spellings change the rankings | Nameberry , I went through the most recent SSA list to find all of the spellings of [name_f]Lila[/name_f] and add up their usage. I found:

[name_f]Lyla[/name_f] was used on 2069 girls (#153)
[name_f]Lila[/name_f] was used on 1681 girls (#192)
[name_f]Lilah[/name_f] was used on 1039 girls (#307)
[name_f]Lylah[/name_f] was used on 439 girls (#635)

Total = 5228, which puts it at #36 between [name_f]Anna[/name_f] and [name_f]Aaliyah[/name_f]

So that’s a lot higher than #192. And like you said, there are lots of Lilys, Laylas, Lolas, Violets, [name_m]Milas[/name_m] and Islas around, and [name_f]Lila[/name_f] repeats a lot of their sounds, so even if you’re not actually hearing it, there’s a good chance you’re hearing something similar.

That said, the name at #36 on the list still only represented 0.2721% of the girls born that year, which would mean two or three girls out of 1000 would have been given that name. So unless you happen to live in an area with lots of [name_f]Lilas[/name_f] running around, it’s still not likely to be super common. And #36 is still lower than [name_f]Audrey[/name_f] (#32) and not drastically higher than [name_f]Claire[/name_f] (#49).

I also looked at [name_f]Lila[/name_f]'s popularity over the last 100 years, and it’s seen increasing use since 1998, before which it wasn’t in the top 1000 for several years, and before that it was low on the list. It was last around its current level of popularity in the 1920s, and the last time it was more popular than now was in 1930, at #170. The [name_f]Lyla[/name_f] spelling has never been nearly as popular as it is now, and [name_f]Lylah[/name_f] has only been on the list since 2009, and [name_f]Lilah[/name_f] since 2006. So [name_f]Lila[/name_f] feels much more like a vintage/classic choice to me than any of the other spellings, which in itself lowers the trendiness factor [name_f]IMO[/name_f].

That said, and this is biased by my love of the name and desperate hope that it isn’t too trendy, it’s a name I’ve heard for years in books or TV but have never encountered in real life. I do find it really versatile and I can see it aging well. I concede that it’s possible that people 30 years from now will associate [name_f]Lila[/name_f] with girls born around now, but to what extent I don’t know.