Aleeyah
An Arabic name meaning "to rise high" or "elevated".
Name Census estimates that about 1,473 living Americans carry the first name Aleeyah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Aleeyah today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Aleeyah births was 2012 (111 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Aleeyah. 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 Aleeyah with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Aleeyah is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 15 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.5K
~ 1 in 232,691 Americans
Peak year
2012
111 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,110
Tracked since 1993
Census
Aleeyah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,040 people with the first name Aleeyah, which placed it at #12,092 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
#12,092
National first-name rank
People counted
1.0K
1,040 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
39.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Aleeyah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aleeyah is Black at 39.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (22.3%) and White (21.5%). 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 Aleeyah 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 Aleeyah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American39.4% · 410
- Hispanic or Latino22.3% · 232
- White21.5% · 224
- Two or more races12.6% · 131
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.5% · 36
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 7
Popularity
Aleeyah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Aleeyah 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 764 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Aleeyah 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 Aleeyah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Aleeyahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 13 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Aleeyah, while South Carolina, Indiana, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 32 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Aleeyah
The name Aleeyah is of Arabic origin, derived from the word "Alia" meaning "exalted" or "sublime." It's believed to have emerged as a feminine variant of the more common Arabic name Ali, which has its roots in the Arabic word "aliyy" meaning "high" or "elevated."
The earliest recorded usage of the name Aleeyah can be traced back to the 7th century, during the rise of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula. It was a popular name among Arab families, particularly those with ties to the Islamic faith and its rich cultural heritage.
One of the earliest notable figures to bear the name Aleeyah was Aleeyah bint Abi Bakr, a prominent scholar and poet who lived during the 8th century. She was renowned for her contributions to Arabic literature and her expertise in the Qur'an and Islamic jurisprudence.
In the 11th century, Aleeyah al-Baghdadiyah, an acclaimed philosopher and mathematician from Baghdad, made significant contributions to the fields of logic and geometry. Her works were widely studied and influential in the Islamic Golden Age.
During the 13th century, Aleeyah al-Andalusiyah, a renowned Sufi mystic and poet from Andalusia (modern-day Spain), gained recognition for her spiritual writings and her expertise in the interpretation of dreams.
Another notable figure was Aleeyah bint al-Husayn, a highly respected scholar and author from the 14th century who wrote extensively on Islamic law, theology, and ethics. Her works were widely read and studied across the Islamic world.
In the 16th century, Aleeyah al-Fasi, a Moroccan scholar and jurist, gained acclaim for her expertise in Islamic jurisprudence and her contributions to the study of the Maliki school of Islamic law.
While these are just a few examples, the name Aleeyah has been carried by many notable figures throughout the centuries, reflecting its rich heritage and cultural significance within the Arabic-speaking world.
People
Aleeyah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Aleeyah 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
Aleeyah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Aleeyah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,473 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Aleeyah 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 232,691 US residents.
Is Aleeyah a common name?
We classify Aleeyah as "Rare". It ranks above 92.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,490 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Aleeyah most popular?
The single biggest year for Aleeyah was 2012, when 111 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Aleeyah is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Aleeyah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,040 people with the name Aleeyah, or 0.34 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,092 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 Aleeyah 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 Aleeyah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Aleeyah appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,044 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Aleeyah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aleeyah is Black at 39.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (22.3%) and White (21.5%). 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 Aleeyah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Aleeyah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 39.4% (410 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 Aleeyah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Aleeyah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Aleeyah 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 Aleeyah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Aleeyah 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 Aleeyah 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 Aleeyah as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Aleeyah, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.