Meaning and history
Ilma has several unrelated origins. In Finnish it is connected with ilma, meaning “air” or “weather,” and belongs to a Finnic nature-name tradition. In Bosnian and other Muslim communities it may instead be an Arabic-derived name associated with ʿilm, “knowledge.” In Germanic-language use it can shorten names such as Wilhelma. A notable bearer is Swiss-Croatian writer and translator Ilma Rakusa. Cultural context is necessary before assigning a meaning.
20062006: 6 births, rank #15,152
2007: no US SSA record for this spelling
2008: 6 births, rank #15,405
2009: 7 births, rank #13,704
2010: no US SSA record for this spelling
20112011: 5 births, rank #16,764
2012: no US SSA record for this spelling
2013: 5 births, rank #16,547
2014: 6 births, rank #14,558
2015: 6 births, rank #14,482
20162016: 7 births, rank #12,876
2017: 8 births, rank #11,615
2018: 12 births, rank #8,617
2019: 10 births, rank #9,736
2020: 6 births, rank #13,453
20212021: 9 births, rank #10,292
2022: 7 births, rank #12,243
2023: 9 births, rank #10,312
2024: 6 births, rank #13,477
20252025: 14 births, rank #7,491
In 2025, 14 babies were recorded with the name Ilma, ranking #7,491 among girls.