Alayha
A feminine Arabic name meaning "elevated" or "superior".
Name Census estimates that about 230 living Americans carry the first name Alayha. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Alayha today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Alayha births was 2016 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Alayha. 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 Alayha with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
230
~ 1 in 1,490,236 Americans
Peak year
2016
17 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,502
Tracked since 1995
Census
Alayha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 183 people with the first name Alayha, which placed it at #40,598 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
#40,598
National first-name rank
People counted
183
183 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
45.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Alayha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alayha is Black at 45.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (26.8%) and White (13.1%). 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 Alayha 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 Alayha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American45.9% · 84
- Hispanic or Latino26.8% · 49
- White13.1% · 24
- Two or more races8.2% · 15
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.8% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.2% · 4
Popularity
Alayha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Alayha 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 110 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Alayha remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Alayha 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 Alayha during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Alayha
The name Alayha is believed to have originated from the Arabic language. It is derived from the word "alaya," which means "elevated" or "exalted." The name first appeared in the Middle Eastern region during the 7th century CE, around the time of the rise of Islam.
Alayha was a relatively uncommon name in ancient times, but it gained some prominence in the medieval period. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in a 9th-century Islamic text, where it was mentioned as the name of a young woman who lived in the city of Baghdad.
During the 11th century, an influential Islamic scholar and poet named Alayha ibn Abi al-Fath was born in Persia (present-day Iran). He is known for his contributions to the field of Arabic literature and his renowned works on Islamic theology.
In the 13th century, Alayha al-Samarkandi was a renowned mathematician and astronomer from the city of Samarkand (modern-day Uzbekistan). She made significant contributions to the study of celestial mechanics and the development of astronomical instruments.
Moving forward to the 15th century, Alayha al-Baghdadi was a notable calligrapher and artist who lived in Baghdad. Her intricate calligraphic works adorned many mosques and palaces throughout the region.
Another prominent figure with the name Alayha was a 17th-century Ottoman scholar and poet, Alayha Mustafa Efendi. He was highly respected for his literary works and his expertise in various fields, including theology, philosophy, and astronomy.
While the name Alayha has Arabic roots, it has been adopted and used in various cultures and regions throughout history. However, it remains a relatively uncommon name, especially in modern times.
People
Alayha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Alayha 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
Alayha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Alayha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 230 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Alayha 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 1,490,236 US residents.
Is Alayha a common name?
We classify Alayha as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 232 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Alayha most popular?
The single biggest year for Alayha was 2016, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Alayha is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Alayha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 183 people with the name Alayha, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #40,598 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 Alayha 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 Alayha?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alayha leans strongly female. 184 people counted with this name were female (98.4%), compared with 3 male bearers (1.6%). 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 Alayha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alayha is Black at 45.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (26.8%) and White (13.1%). 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 Alayha most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Alayha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 45.9% (84 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 Alayha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Alayha a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Alayha 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 Alayha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Alayha 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 Alayha 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 many people have the name Alayha?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.