Alayia
Feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "lofty" or "supreme".
Name Census estimates that about 667 living Americans carry the first name Alayia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Alayia today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Alayia births was 2019 (58 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Alayia. 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 Alayia with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
667
~ 1 in 513,875 Americans
Peak year
2019
58 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,953
Tracked since 1995
Census
Alayia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 396 people with the first name Alayia, which placed it at #24,370 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
#24,370
National first-name rank
People counted
396
396 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
71.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Alayia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alayia is Black at 71.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.6%) and White (8.3%). 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 Alayia 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 Alayia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American71.2% · 282
- Hispanic or Latino10.6% · 42
- White8.3% · 33
- Two or more races7.8% · 31
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 4
Popularity
Alayia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Alayia 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 290 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Alayia remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Alayia 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 Alayia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Alayias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. Florida, North Carolina, Georgia recorded the most babies named Alayia, while Texas, Louisiana, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 9 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Alayia
The name Alayia is of Arabic origin, derived from the Arabic word "ala'a" which means "to rise" or "to ascend." This name has been in use since ancient times in the Middle Eastern region.
In the 7th century, the name Alayia appeared in various Arabic texts and historical records. It was a popular name among Arab scholars and poets during the Islamic Golden Age, which spanned from the 8th to the 13th century.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Alayia was Alayia bint Ahmad al-Qurashi, a renowned female poet and scholar who lived in the 9th century. She was highly respected for her literary works and her contributions to the field of Arabic literature.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Alayia. In the 11th century, Alayia al-Hadrami was a prominent Sufi mystic and scholar from Yemen. She was known for her spiritual teachings and her influence on the Sufi tradition.
During the 13th century, Alayia al-Baghdadi was a celebrated calligrapher and artist from Baghdad. Her intricate calligraphic works were highly sought after and are still admired today for their beauty and craftsmanship.
In the 16th century, Alayia al-Mutanabbi was a renowned Arab poet from Syria. Her poetry was widely celebrated for its eloquence and depth, and she is considered one of the greatest poets of the Arabic literary tradition.
Another notable figure with the name Alayia was Alayia bint Abi Bakr, who lived in the 17th century. She was a respected Islamic scholar and jurist from Egypt, known for her contributions to the study of Islamic jurisprudence and her teachings on various aspects of Islamic law.
While the name Alayia has its roots in the Arabic language and culture, it has also been adopted by various other communities around the world, particularly in regions with significant Arab or Islamic influences.
People
Alayia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Alayia 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
Alayia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Alayia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 667 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Alayia 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 513,875 US residents.
Is Alayia a common name?
We classify Alayia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 673 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Alayia most popular?
The single biggest year for Alayia was 2019, when 58 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Alayia 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 Alayia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 396 people with the name Alayia, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #24,370 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 Alayia 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 Alayia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alayia leans strongly female. 390 people counted with this name were female (99.0%), compared with 4 male bearers (1.0%). 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 Alayia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alayia is Black at 71.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.6%) and White (8.3%). 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 Alayia most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Alayia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.2% (282 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 Alayia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Alayia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Alayia 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 Alayia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Alayia 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 Alayia 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 Americans are named Alayia?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Alayia at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.