Leela

Leela meaning

Leela (लीला) is a Hindu girl's name of Sanskrit origin. By its first sound, ली, it is a Mesh rashi name (Bharani nakshatra) in the North Indian table.

Play, sport, pastime; grace, charm, beauty

Also used to mean: divine play

Leela (लीला) is Sanskrit līlā. Monier-Williams gives it as play, sport or pastime, and also as grace, charm and beauty, with further senses of ease, mere appearance and disguise; it marks the word's origin as uncertain. On Indian name lists Leela is usually explained as "divine play", a sense rooted in Hindu thought, where līlā is the free, joyful activity of the divine. Britannica notes that Vaishnava devotion reads Krishna's games with the cowherd girls of Braj, and Rama's deeds, as līlā, re-enacted on stage in Ras Lila and Ram Lila. The Bharatanatyam dancer Leela Samson, a former director of Kalakshetra in Chennai, is a well-known bearer.

Source: Monier-Williams, Sanskrit–English Dictionary (1899), p. 903 · entry līlā · See the entry · checked 25 Oct 2026

References: Monier-Williams, līlā, p. 903 · Britannica, lila · Wikipedia, Leela Samson

Famous namesakes

• Leela Samson, Bharatanatyam dancer and former director of Kalakshetra

Popularity abroad

• #719 England and Wales, girls 2025
  Office for National Statistics

Official birth registrations. India publishes no national name statistics.

Fits your syllable

First sound ली

Bharani nakshatra, pada 1 · Mesh rashi

North Indian table. Tables vary by region and family tradition, so confirm with your priest.

Spellings

Leela · Lila · Leelaa

Related names

Also meaning joy

More Sanskrit names

Browse more like this