Ayla is the Turkish word for the halo of light around the moon — the soft circle of brightness on a humid night. In Hebrew it means "oak" or "terebinth tree." Two completely separate origins for a single name that has, over the past decade, become one of the fastest-rising girl names in the Western world.
Ayla appeared first in the American consciousness through Jean Auel's 1980 novel The Clan of the Cave Bear, whose Cro-Magnon heroine is named Ayla. The novel's six sequels kept the name alive in English. From the late 2000s, families of Turkish heritage and parents drawn to its sound have together pushed Ayla up the rankings.
Short, soft, with a meaning that almost photographs itself.
Ayla reduces to three in Pythagorean numerology — associated with expressiveness, sociability, and natural light-heartedness.