| Amira | Leila | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | princess | night |
| Origin | arabic | arabic |
| Gender | Girl | Girl |
| Pronunciation | ah-MEER-ah | LAY-lah |
| Syllables | 3 | 2 |
| First appeared | 1963 | 1880 |
| Peak year | 2024 (2,182) | 2010 (1,509) |
| In 2025 | 2,168 | 1,193 |
| Trend | Near its peak | Steady |
Source: US Social Security Administration.
| Decade | Amira | Leila |
|---|---|---|
| 2020s | 10,336 | 7,702 |
| 2010s | 8,199 | 13,914 |
| 2000s | 4,635 | 9,904 |
| 1990s | 1,563 | 2,177 |
| 1980s | 595 | 2,106 |
| 1970s | 257 | 1,624 |
| 1960s | 24 | 1,578 |
| 1950s | 0 | 1,740 |
| 1940s | 0 | 1,852 |
| 1930s | 0 | 2,473 |
| 1920s | 0 | 3,340 |
| 1910s | 0 | 2,830 |
| 1900s | 0 | 1,529 |
| 1890s | 0 | 1,588 |
| 1880s | 0 | 1,079 |
Arabic 'amira', the feminine of 'amir' ('prince, commander, ruler'), meaning 'princess'. Royal but not literally 'queen' — the root a-m-r concerns command/rule. (A separate Hebrew name Amira means 'speech/treetop'.)
Variant spelling of Layla, from Arabic 'layl' meaning 'night'. The 'Leila' form was popularized in English via 19th-century Western literature.
Amira is more popular than Leila today: about 2,168 US babies were given the name Amira in 2025, compared with 1,193 named Leila.
Amira means princess (arabic origin), while Leila means night (arabic origin).
In US records, Amira first appears in 1963 and Leila in 1880, so Leila has the longer recorded history.