Ilya

Did you know?

A few things about Ilya you might not know, from US birth records and Wikipedia. Handy for convincing a partner, or a grandparent.

⭐ Famous Ilya

Ilya Repin

Russian-empire painter of Ukrainian birth (1844-1930)

Choose Ilya and your child shares a first name with Ilya Repin, a Russian-empire painter of Ukrainian birth. A ready-made answer when someone asks “Ilya, like who?” Ilya Repin's Wikipedia article is available in 91 languages, a good sign of just how widely known they are.

Read about Ilya Repin on Wikipedia ↗ (opens in a new tab)

Photo: AnonymousUnknown author, Public domain (opens in a new tab), via Wikimedia Commons

• 👶How commonAbout 1 in every 45,045 baby boys born in the US in 2025 was named Ilya, 38 babies in all. In a typical school of 500 kids, your Ilya would very likely be the only one.
• 📜HistoryIlya first shows up in US birth records in 1961, the first year at least 5 babies got it. It has been in use for 64 years since.
• 🏆Best yearIts best year was 2018, when it reached #2,617.
• 🍂TrendIlya has slipped 103 places over the last five years and now sits at #3,128. Good news if you want a familiar name that fewer kids will share.
• ⚖️Boy or girlIlya is given to both boys and girls: 59% of the 64 babies named Ilya in 2025 were boys. That makes it one of the names that truly works for either.
• 💬MeaningIlya is a Russian form of Elijah, which means “the Lord is my God”.

About the name Ilya

Ilya is a boy name meaning “the Lord is my God”. It has 4 letters and 2 syllables, starting with I and ending in “-lya”. US birth records list Ilya for boys from 1966 to 2025, in 42 of those 60 years. Its best year was 2018, when it ranked #2,617 among boy names. In 2025 it ranked #3,128, with 38 babies.