Rising since 2001, #7,679 for boys today.
Popularity of Iliya since 1995
Babies named Iliya per year in U.S. Social Security records. Raw births topped out in 2011, but relative to how few babies were recorded back then, Iliya's real moment was 2020.
Data table (by decade)
| Decade | Girls | Boys |
|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 0 | 6 |
| 2000s | 0 | 55 |
| 2010s | 28 | 86 |
| 2020s | 18 | 47 |
Meaning & origin
Iliya entered U.S. baby name records in 1995, initially as a rare choice. The name has been rising steadily since 2001, reflecting a broader trend of parents embracing pan-cultural variants of classic biblical names. Its peak year so far was 2020, but it has continued to gain slow, consistent traction in the 2020s without yet cracking the top 5,000. With a 1-in-170,808 frequency in 2025, Iliya remains an uncommon but recognizable choice, especially appealing to families of Eastern European, Middle Eastern, or Russian heritage.
Iliya is a variant of Elias, the Greek and Latin form of the Hebrew name Eliyahu (Elijah), meaning 'my God is Yahweh.' In Arabic, Ilyas is the Quranic form of Elijah. The Russian form Ilya is common in Slavic countries, and Iliya represents a transliteration from Cyrillic. It has been used across Christian, Muslim, and Jewish communities for centuries, though it entered the U.S. naming pool relatively recently via immigrant families.
“Iliya” around the world
Where Iliya lands in the latest official birth statistics abroad, matched to the U.S. spelling.
France
5
babies in 2024
Sources: INSEE (France).
Nicknames & variants
Nicknames: Ily, Ili
Sibling names for Iliya
Names that share Iliya's style, for a brother or sister.
