Leila

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A feminine first name of Arabic and Persian origin, often associated with the meaning of night
2. A woman's given name borrowed from Arabic, sometimes spelled Layla and meaning dark as night
3. An Arabic-derived female first name that is popular in many English-speaking countries today

Etymology: "Leila" comes from the Arabic name "لَيْلَى" (laylā), which is also the name of a famous figure in Arabic literature: Layla, the beloved of the poet Qays ibn al-Mulawwah, whose tragic love story became one of the best-known romances of the Arabic tradition. The Arabic name itself is built on the word for "night," so the name is often read as meaning something like "dark-haired" or "night-born," though that sense is a reading of the name rather than a fixed dictionary meaning. The name reached English through nineteenth-century literature, where Arabic and Persian romance and poetry were widely translated and admired by European readers. Its use as a given name in English followed that literary exposure, and it has remained in use since then, most commonly in English-speaking countries as a girl's name.