# Leila (name)

Leila (Arabic: ليلى, Urdu: ليلى Turkish: Leyla Persian: لیلا, Hebrew: לילה, Sanskrit: लीला) is a feminine given name primarily found in the Middle East, including Semitic speaking countries, Iran, Pakistan and Turkey. 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 لَيْلَى (layla) in Arabic, and ܠܹܠܝܵܐ (lēlyā) in Syriac.
In Arabic and Hebrew, 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 (Arabic: 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 such as Iran and Pakistan also 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".

## People with this name
### Laila

* Laila Akhmetova (born 1954), Kazakh doctor of historical sciences
* Laila Ali (born 1977), boxer and daughter of Muhammad Ali
* Laila Ali Abdulla (born 1965), First Lady of the Maldives
* Laila Bagge (born 1972), 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 (born 1942), Swedish Social-Democrat
* Laila Harré (born 1966), New Zealand politician
* Laila Hirvisaari (1938-2021), Finnish author and writer
* Laila El Khalifi (better known as Leila K) (born 1971), Swedish singer and rapper
* Laila Kinnunen (1939-2000), Finnish singer
* Laila Lalami (born 1968), Moroccan-American novelist and essayist
* Laila Mehdin (born 1980), Indian actress
* Laila Morse (born 1945), English actress
* Laila Pakalniņa (born 1962), Latvian director
* Laila Phelia (born 2002), American basketball player
* Laila Rouass (born 1971), English actress
* Laila Soueif (born 1956), Egyptian human and women's rights activist
* Laila Smith (born 2006), American singer
* Laila Stien (born 1946), Norwegian writer
* Laila Wasti (born 1977), Pakistani actress and director
* Laila Woozeer, British author and activist
* DJ Laila (born 1978), 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, American-Egyptian dancer
* DJ Layla, a Romanian music project
* MC Layla (born 1982), Australian rapper
* Sultana Yesmin Layla (born 1993), Bangladeshi singer

### Laylah

* Laylah Ali (born 1968), American visual artist
* Laylah Ali Othman (born 1986), Nigerian businesswoman

### Leila

* Leila Aboulela (born 1964), Sudanese writer
* Leila Ahmed (born 1940), Egyptian-American professor
* Leila Anderson (born 1984), South African performance artist
* Leïla Ben Ali (born 1956), Tunisian political figure
* Leila Arab (born 1971), London-based musician of Persian descent
* Leila Barros (born 1971), Brazilian volleyball player
* Leila Bela (born 1970), Iranian-American musician, actress and writer
* Leïla Chaibi (born 1982), French politician
* Leila de Lima (born 1959), Filipino human rights activist
* Leila Denmark (1898-2012), American pediatrician
* Leila Esfandyari (1971–2011), Iranian mountain climber
* Leila Farzad (born 1981), British actress
* Leila Forouhar (born 1959), Iranian singer and actress
* Leila Ben-Gacem (born 1969), Tunisian social entrepreneur
* Leila Goldkuhl (born 1991), American model
* Leila Hatami (born 1972), Iranian actress
* Leila Hayes (1940–2025), Australian actress
* Leila Herbert (1868-1897), American author
* Leila Hyams (1905-1977), American film actress
* Leïla Jaffel (born 1960), Tunisian politician and jurist
* Leila Josefowicz (born 1977), American violinist
* Leila Kasra (1939-1989), Iranian poet and lyricist
* Leila Khaled (born 1944), Palestinian hijacker and PFLP member
* Leila Lopes (pageant titleholder) (born 1986), Miss Universe 2011 from Angola
* Leila Luik (born 1985), Estonian long-distance runner
* Leila Mardanshina (1927-2017), Soviet and Russian gas and oil operator
* Leila McKinnon, Iranian-Australian journalist
* Lelia N. Morris (1862–1929), American hymnwriter
* Leila Mourad (1918-1995), Egyptian singer and movie star
* Leila Ouahabi (born 1993), Spanish footballer
* Leila Pahlavi (1970-2001), Princess of Iran
* Leila Säälik (born 1941), Estonian actress
* Leïla Slimani (born 1981), French-Moroccan writer and journalist
* Leila Sobral (born 1974), Brazilian basketball player
* Leila Al Solh (born 1946), Lebanese public figure
* Leila Tong (born 1981), Hong Kong actress and singer
* Leila Vaziri (born 1985), Iranian-American swimmer, world record holder
* Leila Waddell (1880-1932), mistress of British occultist Aleister Crowley

### Leilah

* Leilah Assunção (born 1943), Brazilian dramatist, actress and writer
* Leilah Mahi (1890–1932), French writer
* Leilah Nadir, Canadian writer
* Leïla Sy (born 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 (born 1980), queer writer from Bosnia and Herzegovina
* Lejla Tanović (born 1994), Bosnian mountain bike racer

### Leyla

* Leyla Achba (1898-1931), princess at the Ottoman Empire court
* Leyla Bağcı (born 1990), Turkish-Dutch footballer
* Leyla Chihuán (born 1975), Peruvian volleyball player
* Leyla Gencer (1928-2008), Turkish soprano opera singer
* Leyla Güngör (born 1993), Turkish-Swedish footballer
* Leyla Mamedbekova (1921-2006), Azerbaijani pathologist
* Leyla Mammadbeyova (1909-1989), the first female Azerbaijani aviator
* Leyla Milani (born 1982), Canadian model of Iranian descent
* Leyla Neyzi (born 1961), Turkish academic
* Leyla Pınar, Turkish harpsichordist and musicologist
* Leyla Qasim (1952-1974), Kurdish activist in Iraq
* Leyla Saz (1850-1936), composer, poet and writer of Cretan Turkish descent
* Leyla Soleymani, Canadian scientist
* Leyla Tuğutlu (born 1989), Turkish beauty queen
* Leyla Vakilova (1927-1999), Azerbaijani ballerina
* Leyla Yeniay Köseoğlu (1926–2002), Turkish politician
* Leyla Zana (born 1961), 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 character in 2020 video game 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, in the Italian version of Star Wars), 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