Smilla: Name Meaning, Origin & Popularity

At a Glance: Name: Smilla – Origin: modern literary coinage (from a fictional Greenlandic-styled name) – Gender: Girl – Pronunciation: SMIL-ah


Smilla is a modern literary coinage (from a fictional Greenlandic-styled name) girl's name. It appears in our list of 175+ German Baby Girl Names That Are Quietly Making a Comeback.

Meaning & Origin of Smilla

Origin: modern literary coinage (from a fictional Greenlandic-styled name).

A common claim: means 'smile' Actually: There's no real etymological link to the word 'smile'; that's a phonetic coincidence, not the name's documented origin.

Source: Wiktionary.

How to Pronounce Smilla

Phonetic: SMIL-ah   IPA: /ˈsmɪlə/

Popularity of Smilla

Smilla doesn’t appear in U.S. Social Security birth records, which include every name given to at least five babies in a year — so it’s rare in the U.S.

Lists That Include Smilla

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