Leila (name)

Leila (ليلى,, לילה, लीला) is a feminine given name primarily found in the Middle East, particularly in Semitic speaking countries and Iran. In the Latin alphabet, the name is commonly spelled in multiple ways, including Leila, Layla, Laylah, Laila, Leyla and Leylah.

The Indian version is "Leela" or "Lila." Some people of Indian origin use the spelling "Leila." The name in Sanskrit loosely translates to "divine play."

(lēləyā) in Aramaic, לילה (layla) in Hebrew, لَيْل (layl) or لَيْلَة (layla) in Arabic, and ܠܹܠܝܵܐ (lēlyā) in Syriac.

In Hebrew and Arabic, the word Leila or Laila means "night", "dark" and the name is often given to girls born during the night, signifying "daughter of the night".

The story of Qays and Layla or Layla and Majnun is based on the romantic poems of Qais Ibn Al-Mulawwah (قيس بن الملوح) in 7th century Arabia, who was nicknamed Majnoon Layla (مجنون ليلى), Arabic for "madly in love with Layla", referring to his cousin Layla Al-Amiriah (ليلى العامرية). His poems are considered the paragon of unrequited chaste love. They later became a popular romance in medieval Iran, and use of the name spread accordingly. The name gained popularity further afield in the Persianate world, amongst Turkic peoples and in the Balkans and India.

In the Nordic countries, Laila or Lajla is derived from the Sami name Láilá, the Sami variant of Helga which means "holy".

Laila

 * Laila Akhmetova, Kazakh doctor of historical sciences
 * Laila Ali, boxer and daughter of Muhammad Ali
 * Laila Ali Abdulla, First Lady of the Maldives
 * Laila Bagge, Swedish manager and songwriter
 * Laila Bērziņa (born 1965), Latvian politician
 * Laila Bjurling (born 1947), Swedish politician
 * Laila Edwards (born 2004), American ice hockey player
 * Laila Freivalds, Swedish Social-Democrat
 * Laila Harré, New Zealand politician
 * Laila Hirvisaari, Finnish author and writer
 * Laila El Khalifi (better known as Leila K), Swedish singer and rapper
 * Laila Kinnunen, Finnish singer
 * Laila Lalami, Moroccan-American novelist and essayist
 * Laila Mehdin, Indian actress
 * Laila Morse, English actress
 * Laila Pakalniņa, Latvian director
 * Laila Phelia, American basketball player
 * Laila Rouass, English actress
 * Laila Soueif, Egyptian human and women's rights activist
 * Laila Stien, Norwegian writer
 * Laila Wasti, Pakistani actress and director
 * Laila Woozeer, British author and activist
 * DJ Laila, Filipino radio and television presenter

Layla

 * Layla al-Akhyaliyya, 8th century AD Umayyad Arab poet
 * Layla Balabakki (1934–2023), Lebanese writer and activist
 * Layla El (born 1977), British wrestler, dancer, model, actress, and entrepreneur
 * Layla Handbury (born 1982), Australian MC
 * Layla Iskandar (born 2002), Lebanese footballer
 * Layla Kayleigh (born 1986), G4 host on the US television program, Attack of the Show!
 * Layla Kaylif (born 1971), British Emirati singer
 * Layla McCarter (born 1979), American boxer
 * Layla Moran (born 1982), British Liberal Democrat politician
 * Layla Palmer, singer and keyboardist for the band Amity Lane
 * Layla Taj, Egyptian dancer
 * DJ Layla, a Romanian music project
 * MC Layla, Australian rapper

Laylah

 * Laylah Ali, American visual artist
 * Laylah Ali Othman, Nigerian businesswoman

Leila

 * Leila Aboulela, Sudanese writer
 * Leila Ahmed, Egyptian-American professor
 * Leila Anderson, South African performance artist
 * Leïla Ben Ali, Tunisian political figure
 * Leila Arab, London-based musician of Persian descent
 * Leila Barros, Brazilian volleyball player
 * Leila Bela, Iranian-American musician, actress and writer
 * Leïla Chaibi, French politician
 * Leila de Lima, Filipino human rights activist
 * Leila Denmark, American pediatrician
 * Leila Esfandyari (1971–2011), Iranian mountain climber
 * Leila Forouhar, Iranian singer and actress
 * Leila Ben-Gacem, Tunisian social entrepreneur
 * Leila Goldkuhl, American model, contestant on America's Next Top Model, Cycle 19
 * Leila Hatami, Iranian actress
 * Leila Hayes, Australian actress
 * Leila Herbert, American author
 * Leila Hyams, American film actress
 * Leïla Jaffel, Tunisian politician and jurist
 * Leila Josefowicz, American violinist
 * Leila K (born Laila El Khalifi), Swedish singer and rapper
 * Leila Kasra, Iranian poet and lyricist
 * Leila Khaled, Palestinian hijacker and PFLP member
 * Leila Lopes (pageant titleholder), Miss Universe 2011 from Angola
 * Leila Luik (born 1985), Estonian long-distance runner
 * Leila Mardanshina, Soviet and Russian gas and oil operator
 * Leila McKinnon, Iranian-Australian journalist
 * Lelia N. Morris (1862–1929), American hymnwriter
 * Leila Mourad, Egyptian singer and movie star
 * Leila Movarekhi, Iranian Princess of Qajar dynasty
 * Leila Ouahabi, Spanish footballer
 * Leila Pahlavi, Princess of Iran
 * Leila Säälik (born 1941), Estonian actress
 * Leïla Slimani (born 1981), French-Moroccan writer and journalist
 * Leila Sobral, Brazilian basketball player
 * Leila Al Solh, Lebanese public figure
 * Leila Tong, Hong Kong actress and singer
 * Leila Vaziri, Iranian-American swimmer, world record holder
 * Leila Waddell, mistress of British occultist Aleister Crowley

Leilah

 * Leilah Assunção, Brazilian dramatist, actress and writer
 * Leilah Mahi (1890–1932), French writer
 * Leilah Nadir, Canadian writer
 * Leïla Sy (1977-), French film director
 * Leilah Weinraub (born 1979), American filmmaker and conceptual artist

Lejla

 * Lejla Agolli (born 1950), Albanian composer
 * Lejla Basic (born 1994), Swedish footballer
 * Lejla Hot (born 1986), Serbian pop singer, musician, and songwriter
 * Lejla Kalamujić, queer writer from Bosnia and Herzegovina
 * Lejla Tanović (born 1994), Bosnian mountain bike racer

Leyla

 * Leyla Achba, princess at the Ottoman Empire court
 * Leyla Bağcı (born 1990), Turkish-Dutch footballer
 * Leyla Chihuán, Peruvian volleyball player
 * Leyla Gencer, Turkish soprano opera singer
 * Leyla Güngör (born 1993), Turkish-Swedish footballer
 * Leyla Mamedbekova, Azerbaijani pathologist
 * Leyla Mammadbeyova, the first female Azerbaijani aviator
 * Leyla Milani, Canadian model of Iranian descent
 * Leyla Neyzi, Turkish academic
 * Leyla Pınar, Turkish harpsichordist and musicologist
 * Leyla Qasim, Kurdish activist in Iraq
 * Leyla Saz, composer, poet and writer of Cretan Turkish descent
 * Leyla Soleymani, Canadian scientist
 * Leyla Tuğutlu, Turkish beauty queen
 * Leyla Vakilova, Azerbaijani ballerina
 * Leyla Yeniay Köseoğlu (2026–2002), Turkish politician
 * Leyla Zana, Kurdish politician from Turkey

Leylah

 * Leylah Alliët (born 1991), Belgian beauty pageant titleholder
 * Leylah Fernandez (born 2002), Canadian tennis player

Film, music and literature

 * Laila, Norwegian silent film starring Mona Mårtenson
 * Laila, album by Shahin Badar
 * Layla, song by Derek and the Dominos
 * Leila, song by Indochine in the album L'aventurier
 * Leila, essay by Margaret Fuller
 * Leila, song by Miami Horror in the EP The Shapes
 * Lejla, song by Hari Mata Hari
 * Laila, song by Kourosh Yaghmaei

Fictional and mythological characters

 * Laila, character portrayed by Sunny Leone in item song "Laila Main Laila" from Raees
 * Laila Lewin in the book series The Wheel of Time
 * Lailah, an angel of the night in Jewish mythology
 * Layla in the Japanese manga Black Butler/Kuroshitsuji, first introduced in chapter 172
 * Layla in the animated series Winx Club
 * Layla in the 1st Story Maxi CD 「Seisen no Iberia / 聖戦のイベリア」 of Sound Horizon
 * Layla in the classic Arabic love story Layla and Majnun
 * Layla, from series 3-5 of The Story of Tracy Beaker, portrayed by Cara Readle
 * Layla, a playable Cryo character in Genshin Impact
 * Layla El-Faouly / Scarlet Scarab in the Marvel Cinematic Universe TV show Moon Knight
 * Layla Hamilton in the Japanese manga series Kaleido Star
 * Layla Hassan, character in the Assassin's Creed video game series
 * Layla Heartfilia in the Japanese manga series Fairy Tail
 * Layla Miller in the Marvel universe
 * Layla M. Luzhkova in the Japanese anime series Sakura Wars the Animation
 * Layla Prismriver, a character briefly mentioned in the Japanese doujin game series (shoot 'em up) Touhou Project
 * Layla Serizawa in the Japanese manga series NANA
 * Leela in the animated TV show Futurama
 * Leela (Doctor Who), a companion of the Fourth Doctor (1977–78)
 * Leela Lomax, a character in soap opera Hollyoaks
 * Leila, a playable character in Final Fantasy II
 * Leila, a daughter of main character in video game by Saber Interactive Inversion
 * Leila Dalton, protagonist of the Night Prince novels by Jeaniene Frost
 * Leila Hosnani, mother of Nessim (and Narouz) Hosnani, in Lawrence Durrell's The Alexandria Quartet
 * Leila Kwan Zimmer, a character in the Netflix series Grand Army
 * Leila Organa or Principessa Leila, Italian name of Princess Leia Organa, Star Wars character
 * Leïla, heroine of Bizet's opera Les Pecheurs de Perles (The Pearl Fishers), 1863
 * Leyla Harding in the British soap opera Emmerdale
 * Leyla Sancak in The Protector (Turkish TV series)
 * Lilah Morgan in Angel (1999 TV series) TV show
 * Lyla Garrity in the television series Friday Night Lights