Layla comes from the Arabic laylah (ليلى), meaning "night." In classical Arabic poetry the night carries a particular weight — it is the time of intimacy, of contemplation, of the beloved. The name is forever linked to the seventh-century tragic love story of Layla and Majnun, in which a poet named Qays falls so deeply in love with a woman named Layla that he is driven mad, and the night and her name become indistinguishable to him.
From Arabic, Layla spread across Persian, Turkish, and Urdu poetry, eventually entering the European imagination through Eric Clapton's 1970 song Layla, written about his unrequited love for Pattie Boyd. The song made the name famous in the West; the meaning has kept it loved. Today Layla sits comfortably in the top 30 girl names in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
The two-syllable shape, the soft consonants, and the resonant meaning have made Layla one of the most successful Arabic-origin names to cross into English. Spelling variations — Leila, Laila, Layla — reflect different transliterations of the same Arabic original.
Layla reduces to five in Pythagorean numerology — the number of curiosity, adaptability, and freedom. Fives are often described as restless, sociable, and drawn to experience. The number's energy mirrors the poetic spirit of the name itself.