Laila
Meaning and origin
First recorded in Sweden in 1884. Borrowed from Norwegian and Finnish Laila. Interpreted as a Sami name.
Source: Wiktionary, Swedish entry for Laila (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Laila has been rising over the last few years. Its best year between 1998 and 2022 was 2022. The figures are for this exact spelling; other spellings of the name are counted on their own.
Years with fewer than two babies (fewer than ten before 2004) show as zero in the chart and as – in the table.
Show the figures
| Year | Girls |
|---|---|
| 1998 | – |
| 1999 | – |
| 2000 | – |
| 2001 | 14 |
| 2002 | – |
| 2003 | – |
| 2004 | 9 |
| 2005 | 7 |
| 2006 | 10 |
| 2007 | 10 |
| 2008 | 14 |
| 2009 | 20 |
| 2010 | 11 |
| 2011 | 10 |
| 2012 | 12 |
| 2013 | 15 |
| 2014 | 10 |
| 2015 | 9 |
| 2016 | 11 |
| 2017 | 23 |
| 2018 | 22 |
| 2019 | 17 |
| 2020 | 16 |
| 2021 | 15 |
| 2022 | 28 |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Women and girls |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 8,762 |
| 2000 | 8,729 |
| 2001 | 8,696 |
| 2002 | 8,676 |
| 2003 | 8,643 |
| 2004 | 8,596 |
| 2005 | 8,533 |
| 2006 | 8,480 |
| 2007 | 8,447 |
| 2008 | 8,419 |
| 2009 | 8,397 |
| 2010 | 8,348 |
| 2011 | 8,283 |
| 2012 | 8,239 |
| 2013 | 8,177 |
| 2014 | 8,140 |
| 2015 | 8,109 |
| 2016 | 8,071 |
| 2017 | 8,015 |
| 2018 | 7,960 |
| 2019 | 7,877 |
| 2020 | 7,738 |
Laila in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Laila.Hi! My name is Laila.
- Har du träffat Laila? Hon började jobba här i måndags.Have you met Laila? She started working here on Monday.
- Vet du om Laila kommer på festen på lördag?Do you know if Laila is coming to the party on Saturday?
- Lailas mamma är lärare.Laila's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Lailas mamma is Laila's mum.
Related names and other spellings
More names
Questions about Laila
How do you pronounce Laila in Swedish?
Press Listen at the top of the page to hear Laila from a native speaker's recording.
What does the name Laila mean?
First recorded in Sweden in 1884. Borrowed from Norwegian and Finnish Laila. Interpreted as a Sami name.
How popular is Laila in Sweden?
28 babies were named Laila in 2022. In 2020, 7,738 people in Sweden had Laila as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been rising lately and peaked in 2022 in the years SCB covers (1998–2022).
Popularity figures: Statistics Sweden (SCB), name statistics (BE0001) from the Statistical Database, released as open data under CC0. Each spelling is counted as its own name, as SCB does. SCB's open name statistics end with babies named in 2022 and the population on 31 December 2020; SCB stopped producing name statistics in 2024 and now points to the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) for newer figures.
Origins, IPA and recordings: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), via kaikki.org; recordings from Lingua Libre on Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA). Lingolib is not affiliated with SCB or Wiktionary. Sources last checked 7 October 2026.