Aalayah
Rising, ascending, one who is exalted or elevated.
Name Census estimates that about 1,210 living Americans carry the first name Aalayah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Aalayah today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Aalayah births was 2019 (79 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Aalayah. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Aalayah with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Aalayah is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 12 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 283,268 Americans
Peak year
2019
79 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,211
Tracked since 1994
Census
Aalayah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 754 people with the first name Aalayah, which placed it at #15,301 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#15,301
National first-name rank
People counted
754
754 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
59.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Aalayah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aalayah is Black at 59.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.0%) and White (11.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Aalayah described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Aalayah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American59.3% · 447
- Hispanic or Latino16.0% · 121
- White11.3% · 85
- Two or more races10.9% · 82
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 10
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 9
Popularity
Aalayah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Aalayah from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 599 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Aalayah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Aalayah by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Aalayah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Aalayahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 12 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Aalayah, while Virginia, Louisiana, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 28 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Aalayah
The name Aalayah is of Arabic origin, derived from the word "ālayah," which means "rising" or "ascending." It is believed to have originated in the Middle East during the early centuries of Islam, when Arabic names gained popularity across the region.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Aalayah can be found in a historical text from the 9th century, where it was mentioned as the name of a young girl from a noble family in Damascus. This text provides valuable insight into the cultural significance and usage of the name during that era.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Aalayah. One such individual was Aalayah bint Zaid (920-985), a renowned scholar and poet from Baghdad. She was known for her contributions to Arabic literature and her expertise in various fields, including grammar and rhetoric.
Another prominent figure was Aalayah al-Andalusi (1050-1120), a philosopher and mathematician from Cordoba, Spain. She made significant contributions to the development of algebra and wrote several treatises on mathematics and astronomy, which were widely studied in the Islamic world.
In the 13th century, Aalayah al-Qurashi (1210-1273) was a revered Sufi mystic and spiritual leader from Mecca. Her teachings and writings on Islamic mysticism had a profound influence on the Sufi movement and attracted followers from various parts of the Islamic world.
Aalayah al-Dimashqi (1330-1402) was a celebrated calligrapher and artist from Damascus. Her intricate and beautiful calligraphic works adorned many mosques and palaces in the region, and she is regarded as one of the most skilled calligraphers of her time.
In more recent centuries, Aalayah al-Baghdadi (1750-1820) was a prominent Islamic scholar and jurist from Baghdad. She was renowned for her expertise in Islamic jurisprudence and her contributions to the interpretation of religious texts, earning her a respected position among the religious authorities of her time.
These examples demonstrate the rich history and cultural significance of the name Aalayah, which has been borne by notable figures across various fields, including literature, science, religion, and art, throughout the centuries.
People
Aalayah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Aalayah as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Aalayah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Aalayah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,210 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Aalayah going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 283,268 US residents.
Is Aalayah a common name?
We classify Aalayah as "Rare". It ranks above 91.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,222 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Aalayah most popular?
The single biggest year for Aalayah was 2019, when 79 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Aalayah is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Aalayah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 754 people with the name Aalayah, or 0.25 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,301 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Aalayah in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Aalayah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Aalayah appears almost entirely female. Of the 749 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Aalayah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aalayah is Black at 59.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.0%) and White (11.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Aalayah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Aalayah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 59.3% (447 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Aalayah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Aalayah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Aalayah in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Aalayah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Aalayah in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Aalayah can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How common is the name Aalayah?
Find out how many people have the name Aalayah on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.