Alliya
A feminine Arabic name meaning "highest" or "exalted".
Name Census estimates that about 220 living Americans carry the first name Alliya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Alliya today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Alliya births was 2002 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Alliya. 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 Alliya with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
220
~ 1 in 1,557,974 Americans
Peak year
2002
18 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2017 SSA rank
#16,046
Tracked since 1995
Census
Alliya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 270 people with the first name Alliya, which placed it at #31,633 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
#31,633
National first-name rank
People counted
270
270 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
31.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Alliya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alliya is White at 31.5%. The next largest groups are Black (28.5%) and Hispanic (18.5%). 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 Alliya 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 Alliya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White31.5% · 85
- Black or African American28.5% · 77
- Hispanic or Latino18.5% · 50
- Asian and Pacific Islander12.6% · 34
- Two or more races7.8% · 21
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 3
Popularity
Alliya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Alliya from the 1990s through to the 2010s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 137 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Alliya remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Alliya 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 Alliya 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 Alliya
The name Alliya is believed to have its origins in the Arabic language and culture, dating back to the 7th century CE. It is derived from the Arabic word "Ali," which means "exalted" or "sublime." This name is often associated with the revered Islamic figure, Ali ibn Abi Talib, who was the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad.
In Arabic cultures, Alliya is considered a feminine form of the name Ali and is commonly given to baby girls as a way to honor the legacy of Ali ibn Abi Talib. The name has been found in various historical records and texts throughout the Middle East and North Africa, where the influence of Arabic culture and language has been significant.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Alliya can be traced back to the 10th century CE, when a renowned female scholar and poet from Baghdad, known as Alliya bint al-Samh, gained recognition for her contributions to Arabic literature. She was born in 947 CE and is celebrated for her mastery of various poetic forms and her insightful works on Quranic exegesis.
Another notable figure with the name Alliya was Alliya al-Isfahani, a 12th-century female Sufi mystic and scholar from Isfahan, Iran. She was known for her profound spiritual teachings and her writings on the mystical aspects of Islam. Alliya al-Isfahani was born in 1155 CE and is regarded as an influential figure in the history of Islamic mysticism.
In the 13th century, Alliya al-Qurashiyya, a Moroccan scholar and jurist, made significant contributions to the field of Islamic jurisprudence. She was born in 1209 CE and is remembered for her expertise in various branches of Islamic law, as well as her teachings on the Maliki school of Islamic jurisprudence.
During the 14th century, Alliya bint Ahmad al-Gharnati, a renowned Muslim explorer and traveler from Granada, Spain, embarked on remarkable journeys throughout the Middle East and North Africa. She was born in 1319 CE and is celebrated for her detailed accounts of her travels, which provided valuable insights into the cultural and geographic landscapes of the regions she visited.
In the 16th century, Alliya al-Husayni, a renowned calligrapher and artist from Ottoman Turkey, gained recognition for her exceptional skills in Arabic calligraphy and manuscript illumination. She was born in 1541 CE and is celebrated for her intricate and beautiful works, which have been preserved in various museums and collections around the world.
These are just a few examples of the historical figures who have borne the name Alliya, highlighting its deep roots in Arabic culture and its association with notable scholars, mystics, artists, and travelers throughout the centuries.
People
Alliya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Alliya 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
Alliya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Alliya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 220 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Alliya 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 1,557,974 US residents.
Is Alliya a common name?
We classify Alliya as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 224 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Alliya most popular?
The single biggest year for Alliya was 2002, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Alliya is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Alliya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 270 people with the name Alliya, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #31,633 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 Alliya 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 Alliya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alliya appears almost entirely female. Of the 268 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Alliya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alliya is White at 31.5%. The next largest groups are Black (28.5%) and Hispanic (18.5%). 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 Alliya most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Alliya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 31.5% (85 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 Alliya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Alliya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Alliya 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 Alliya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Alliya 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 Alliya 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 Alliya?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.