Given name
Ilham
“the heart's inspiration”
Ilham is used as a given name. One Arabic interpretation is “the heart's inspiration.”
Original Arabicإِلْهَام
Meaning & origin
What it means
One Arabic interpretation is “the heart's inspiration.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Arabic.
How it developed
From Arabic إِلْهَام; its root is Arabic ل ه م.
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1995. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Ilham through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 305
- 33 boys · 272 girls
- Most popular year
- 2025
- 28 babies
- 2025
- 28
- #6,645 for girls · #7,359 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- +92%
- Rising fast
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 17 U.S. birth records for girls, ranking No. 6,645 among girls’ names. Average annual use for girls was 38.5% higher in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. It also appeared in 11 birth records for boys in 2025. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 1,191 as a first name in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Ilham’s family of names
In English usage, Ilham has a conventional equivalent in the Turkish form İlham. In English usage, Ilham has a conventional equivalent in the Russian form Ильха́м. In Bashkir usage, Ilham is a Roman-alphabet rendering of Илһам.
Inner ring: spellings · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Ilham has relatives in 8 languages. Lines run from its Arabic roots to each of them.
Arabicwhere Ilham comes from · 1 name
Spellings & scripts 2
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 8
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Ilham
- Ilham TohtiUyghur economist and Human Rights activistborn 1969
- Ilham ZakiyevAzerbaijani Paralympic judokaborn 1980
- Îlham EhmedKurdish politician from Syriaborn 1963
- Elham ShahinEgyptian actressborn 1960
- Ilham Yadullayevassociation football player from Azerbaijanborn 1975
- Ilham MammadovAzerbaijani footballerborn 1970
- Ilham al-MadfaiIraqi musicianborn 1942
- Ilham Jaya KesumaIndonesian footballerborn 1978
- Ilham Ghali of KazanKazan Khanate1449–1490
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
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