Aleyah
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "to ascend" or "to rise".
Name Census estimates that about 2,656 living Americans carry the first name Aleyah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Aleyah today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Aleyah births was 2012 (135 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Aleyah. 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 Aleyah with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Aleyah is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 14 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
2.7K
~ 1 in 129,049 Americans
Peak year
2012
135 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,891
Tracked since 1991
Census
Aleyah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,690 people with the first name Aleyah, which placed it at #8,560 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
#8,560
National first-name rank
People counted
1.7K
1,690 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
37.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Aleyah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aleyah is Black at 37.3%. The next largest groups are White (24.4%) and Hispanic (23.3%). 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 Aleyah 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 Aleyah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American37.3% · 631
- White24.4% · 412
- Hispanic or Latino23.3% · 394
- Two or more races11.4% · 193
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.7% · 45
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 15
Popularity
Aleyah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Aleyah 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 1,071 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Aleyah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Aleyah 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 Aleyah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Aleyahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 20 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Aleyah, while New Mexico, Washington, Oklahoma recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 59 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Aleyah
The name Aleyah has its origins in the Arabic language. It is a feminine name that is believed to have derived from the Arabic word 'aliya', which means 'sublime' or 'exalted'. The earliest known use of this name can be traced back to the Middle Ages in the Arabic-speaking regions of the Middle East and North Africa.
While the name itself does not appear to have any direct references in ancient texts or religious scriptures, its root word 'aliya' is found in the Quran, the holy book of Islam. In the Quran, the term 'aliya' is used to describe the exalted and sublime qualities of God.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Aleyah can be found in the historical records of the Abbasid Caliphate, which ruled over a vast empire stretching from North Africa to Central Asia between the 8th and 13th centuries. During this time, the name was occasionally given to girls born into noble or prominent families.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Aleyah. One such person was Aleyah bint Al-Muqtadir, who lived in the 10th century and was the daughter of the Abbasid Caliph Al-Muqtadir. She was known for her intelligence and literary talents, and was a patron of the arts and learning.
Another historical figure with the name Aleyah was Aleyah Al-Baghdadiyah, a renowned scholar and poet who lived in Baghdad during the 12th century. She was highly respected for her knowledge of Islamic jurisprudence and her skill in Arabic poetry.
In the 14th century, there was Aleyah Al-Andalusiyah, a Sufi mystic and poet from Andalusia, modern-day Spain. Her writings and teachings on spirituality and the divine love of God had a significant influence on the mystical traditions of Islam in the region.
Moving to the 16th century, Aleyah Al-Mughrabiyah was a skilled calligrapher and artist from Morocco. Her intricate and beautifully designed calligraphic works adorned many mosques and palaces throughout the region.
Finally, in the 19th century, Aleyah Al-Tawhidi was a prominent educator and women's rights advocate from Egypt. She was instrumental in establishing one of the first schools for girls in the country and worked tirelessly to promote women's education and empowerment.
People
Aleyah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Aleyah 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
Aleyah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Aleyah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,656 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Aleyah 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 129,049 US residents.
Is Aleyah a common name?
We classify Aleyah as "Rare". It ranks above 94.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,686 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Aleyah most popular?
The single biggest year for Aleyah was 2012, when 135 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Aleyah is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Aleyah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,690 people with the name Aleyah, or 0.56 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,560 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 Aleyah 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 Aleyah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Aleyah appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,693 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 Aleyah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aleyah is Black at 37.3%. The next largest groups are White (24.4%) and Hispanic (23.3%). 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 Aleyah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Aleyah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 37.3% (631 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 Aleyah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Aleyah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Aleyah 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 Aleyah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Aleyah 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 Aleyah 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 share the name Aleyah?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.