Layla

A seventh-century Arabic poet named Qays ibn al-Mulawwah lost his mind over a woman named Layla — Arabic for night — and the story of Majnun and Layla became one of the great unfinished love poems of the Islamic world, reshaping Persian, Turkish, and Urdu literature for a thousand years. The Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi gave the story its most famous twelfth-century version; later Sufi poets read it as an allegory of the soul's longing for God.

The name itself, layl in Arabic, simply means night, with all the ancient Bedouin associations of cool relief from desert heat, of starlight, of the long darkness in which travelers find their way. Eric Clapton, in love with George Harrison's then-wife Pattie Boyd, borrowed the tale for his 1970 song "Layla" — written with Jim Gordon and recorded with Derek and the Dominos, the searing seven-minute guitar piece that turned the name into a fixture of classic rock radio. American parents, charmed by the melody as much as the myth, began using the name in earnest in the 2000s.

Layla entered the SSA top 100 in 2006 and the top 50 by 2010, currently at rank thirty-seven. Famous Laylas include Layla Ali (Muhammad Ali's daughter, the boxer), Layla El (the British wrestler), and Layla Hassan from the Assassin's Creed video games. Two liquid syllables, all l's and a's — LAY-la — easy to sing and easier to love. Pairs beautifully with both Arabic-leaning and English-language siblings (Layla and Adam, Layla and Mateo, Layla and Henry, Layla and Mae). Nicknames are scarce; the name is already a song. A name with a very old romance folded inside.