| Mila | Milena | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | Dear, gracious | Gracious, dear |
| Origin | slavic | Slavic |
| Gender | Girl | Girl |
| Pronunciation | MEE-lah | mee-LEH-nah |
| Syllables | 2 | 3 |
| First appeared | 1881 | 1918 |
| Peak year | 2018 (8,169) | 2019 (428) |
| In 2025 | 4,796 | 271 |
| Trend | Rising | Rising |
Source: US Social Security Administration.
| Decade | Mila | Milena |
|---|---|---|
| 2020s | 35,670 | 2,083 |
| 2010s | 44,114 | 3,218 |
| 2000s | 2,885 | 1,351 |
| 1990s | 311 | 457 |
| 1980s | 163 | 239 |
| 1970s | 206 | 231 |
| 1960s | 258 | 94 |
| 1950s | 230 | 39 |
| 1940s | 168 | 26 |
| 1930s | 142 | 0 |
| 1920s | 178 | 6 |
| 1910s | 99 | 5 |
| 1900s | 30 | 0 |
| 1890s | 25 | 0 |
| 1880s | 10 | 0 |
From the Slavic element mil 'dear, gracious, loving', used as a short form of names like Milena and Ludmila. (A separate Spanish Mila is a short form of Milagros 'miracles'; the love sense is Slavic.)
Milena comes from the Slavic mil, “gracious,” “dear” or “loving.”
Mila is more popular than Milena today: about 4,796 US babies were given the name Mila in 2025, compared with 271 named Milena.
Mila means Dear, gracious (slavic origin), while Milena means Gracious, dear (Slavic origin).
In US records, Mila first appears in 1881 and Milena in 1918, so Mila has the longer recorded history.