Last updated: March 2026

Character Name

Leila

Meaning — The Persian form of the Arabic Layla, from the root meaning night, conveying dark beauty, mystery, and longing. In Persian Sufi poetry, Leila represents the divine beloved — the soul's yearning for union with God is expressed as the madman Majnun's endless, hopeless love for Leila.·Persian origin·Female·LAY-lah

Leila Leila carries the weight of an entire literary tradition of longing, combining extraordinary beauty with an elusive quality that makes her presence both magnetic and ungraspable. Characters named Leila are often the axis around whom others orbit — desired, imagined, and somewhat mythologized by those who love them.

Best genres for Leila

RomanceHistorical FictionLiterary FictionMagical Realism

Famous characters named Leila

Leila

Layla and Majnun Nizami Ganjavi

The beloved of the poet Qays, whose unattainability drives him to madness — in Sufi readings, a symbol of the divine beauty that inflames the soul with longing.


Variations & nicknames

LeilaLaylaLailaLila

Pairs well with

Leila ShiraziLeila TehraniLeila HosseiniLeila MoradiLeila KarimiLeila Sadeghi

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