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Ilya

A Hebrew name meaning "my god is Yahweh", carried into Polish through Russian usage. It stays rare and goes almost only to boys, and the trickle of newborns each year is thinning: most Poles have never met one.

Ilya Pronunciation

Ilya is pronounced ee-LIH-ah (/iˈlɨa/).

Alive in 2025
3,055
Newborns 2025
2
National rank
#584

What Ilya means

Where Ilya comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.

Ilya begins in Hebrew, in the name Eliyahu, and it makes a plain claim: my God is Yahweh. The Hebrews called their prophet Eliyahu, whom English readers know as Elijah. When that name moved east into Slavic speech, it settled as Ilya, and it kept a Russian coloring that has held for centuries.

Russian folklore handed the name its most famous bearer. Ilya Muromets, a bogatyr of the old byliny, was a peasant strongman said to have lain bedridden for years before he rose, mounted a horse, and rode to defend Kyiv. Orthodox tradition blurred him with the prophet himself, so that thunder over the summer fields was Ilya crossing the sky in his chariot. The story stuck.

In Poland the spelling stays close to its source, Ilya or Ilja. A school register might set it beside the Jakub and Michał entries, one Hebrew line among the rest. The meaning under it does not move: my God is Yahweh.

How many people are named Ilya

1 in 6987 men in Poland is named Ilya. 3,055 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #584 among male names.

People with the name Ilya 2019 → 2025
3,055 +2,675 since 2019
2020 490 +110
2021 687 +197
2022 1,159 +472
2023 2,235 +1,076
2024 2,789 +554
2025 3,055 +266

Ilya's popularity over time

2 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #1607 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2017. Still the #584 name among living men, even as it slips to #1607 among newborns.

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2 newborns with the name Ilya in 2025
national rank #1607 that year

Where parents choose Ilya

Ilya is most popular in Masovian, 168% above the national average (11 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Silesian (+166%) and Lower Silesian (+65%). It is least common in Lesser Poland and Greater Poland, 24% and 20% below average respectively.

Chosen most
  • Masovian
    +168%
    1 in 32,206 babies
  • Silesian
    +166%
    1 in 32,512 babies
  • Lower Silesian
    +65%
    1 in 52,378 babies
Chosen least
  • Lesser Poland
    −24%
    1 in 113,458 babies
  • Greater Poland
    −20%
    1 in 107,622 babies

Ilya as a middle name

Ilya is a first name for 3,055 men in Poland and a middle name for another 8, a 100/0 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 3568th, between Ilari (8) and Itan (8).

As a first name
3,055
As a middle name
8
first name 100% middle name 0%
Middle-name ranking men

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