Milla is of Latin origin and translates to 'stripe' or 'mark'. It's derived from the Latin word 'milia', which referred to a unit of length equal to 1,000 paces. The name gained popularity as a female given name in the late 20th century, likely due to its association with Milla Jovovich, the American actress and model who was born Milica Natasha Jovović. It has since been used independently of its famous namesake and can be found among baby names around the world.
The name Milla has seen a significant increase in popularity over the past century, with a notable spike in usage from the late 1990s to the mid-2010s. Between 1892 and 1948, there were only sporadic years with more than five births per year for this name. However, starting from 1997, the number of annual births with the name Milla began to rise dramatically, reaching a peak of 144 in 2011. Since then, while the popularity has somewhat decreased, it remains consistently higher than the pre-1990s levels, with over 35 births per year from 2017 to 2023. In total, since 1892 up until last year (2023), there have been 2062 babies named Milla.