NAME OF THE DAY: Ilia

With male figure ⛸ skater "Quad God" aka Ilia Malinin causing a stir at the 2026 ❄ Winter Olympics🏅 — I will be talking about his first name: 📛Ilia 

Ilia is the Georgian form of 📛Elijah (from the Hebrew name אֱלִיָּהוּ (ʾEliyyahu) meaning: "my God is Yahweh"). It is also an alternate transcription of Russian Илья or Belarusian Ілья (see 📛Ilya) or Bulgarian Илия (see 📛Iliya). 

📛Nameberry🍒 describes Ilia as the "international variation of the popular Elijah" and notes it is "currently a unisex option in the US." It is also put upon their 🏅Olympic 👶Baby 📛Names 📃list.

The most Ilias live in 📍Alaska 🥶 yet 📍Florida supposedly has over 200 babies with the name. My Name Stats points out, "The SSA data also shows that Ilia is used as a girl's name 90% of the time."

I'm torn on whether I like or dislike the name 📛Ilia... 🤔 The name Ilia is a completely, refreshing new 😃 name to me so it gets points ✔ for that. When I first saw it, I actually got the pronunciation 🔊Ilia (pro. Ill-lia) correct! 👏🏾 But then finding out it's a variation of Elijah, I say it too: Ill-ly-a. 🙋🏾‍♀️

The thing about Ilia that irks me is, it's tricky 😵‍💫 looking. The 'I' and 'l' look "wrong" 🤨 next to each other... I'd also prefer 📛Ilia more so used for a 💗girl's name because it sounds like a girl's name and looks like one... 🤷🏾‍♀️

Nevertheless, 📛Ilia is an interesting (looking 🧐) name. I'm sure it will have a short-lived growth spurt rising 📈 on the 📛name charts 📊 with skater Ilia Malinin making waves and bringing the name into popular culture. 

♀️Female Version of 📛ILIA:

📛ILIANA

💭I like the feminine version better because it sounds prettier and more girly with 'Ana' added. 👌🏾 

📌STATS ON THE NAME 📛Ilia:

https://www.mynamestats.com/First-Names/I/IL/ILIA/index.html

☔📛IRN RATING OF 📛Ilia: 👍/👎  OR 💙💙💙💙💙/10