Turkish ayla, "moonlight, halo"; also Hebrew elah, "oak" — moonlight; oak grove. Spread in America by the heroine of Jean Auel's Clan of the Cave Bear.
Ayla ranks 77th among American girls in 2025, with 3,149 born that year. Its best year was 2024, when 3,253 babies were given the name, ranking 69th. The typical living American called Ayla is about 8 years old today. It is relatively most common in Rhode Island, where it accounts for 0.39% of births.
Source: US Social Security Administration, national and state name files, 2025 release, and the Office for National Statistics for England and Wales. Etymology researched and written by our editors. Living-population and median-age figures are our own estimates, described in the methodology.