Alyah
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "ascent" or "to ascend".
Name Census estimates that about 1,401 living Americans carry the first name Alyah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Alyah today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Alyah births was 2009 (65 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Alyah. 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 Alyah with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Alyah is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 16 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.4K
~ 1 in 244,650 Americans
Peak year
2009
65 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,650
Tracked since 1994
Census
Alyah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,197 people with the first name Alyah, which placed it at #10,921 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
#10,921
National first-name rank
People counted
1.2K
1,197 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
50.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Alyah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alyah is Hispanic at 50.0%. The next largest groups are Black (21.5%) and White (19.2%). 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 Alyah 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 Alyah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino50.0% · 598
- Black or African American21.5% · 257
- White19.2% · 230
- Two or more races5.2% · 62
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.8% · 34
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 16
Popularity
Alyah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Alyah from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 564 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Alyah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Alyah 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 Alyah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Alyahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Alyah, while Ohio, Georgia, Arizona recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 54 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Alyah
The name Alyah has its origins in Hebrew and Arabic languages. In Hebrew, it is derived from the word "aliyah," which means "ascent" or "to go up." This name carries significant cultural and religious significance in the Jewish tradition, often associated with the immigration of Jews to Israel, known as "making aliyah."
In Arabic, the name Alyah is a variant spelling of the name Aaliyah, which means "exalted" or "rising." This name has roots in the Arabic word "ali," meaning "high" or "elevated." It is a popular name among Muslims and is sometimes given in honor of revered figures in Islamic history.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Alyah can be traced back to the biblical period in the Middle East. In the Hebrew Bible, the word "aliyah" is used to describe the act of ascending or going up, particularly in relation to the journey of the Israelites to the Promised Land.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Alyah or its variations. One of the earliest known examples is Alyah al-Qurayshi, a 7th-century Arab poet from the Quraysh tribe in Mecca. Her poetry was influential during the early Islamic era.
In the 11th century, Alyah al-Hasaniyah was a renowned Islamic scholar and teacher from Baghdad. She was known for her expertise in hadith (prophetic traditions) and her contributions to Islamic education.
During the 20th century, Alyah Gur, born in 1908 in Ukraine, was a prominent Israeli politician and one of the signatories of the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948.
Alyah Khanum, born in 1939 in Afghanistan, was a renowned Afghan singer and musician who played a significant role in preserving and promoting traditional Afghan music.
More recently, Alyah Naqvi, born in 1985 in India, is a contemporary writer and journalist known for her works exploring themes of identity, culture, and feminism.
These are just a few examples of the diverse individuals who have carried the name Alyah throughout history, each leaving their mark in various fields and cultures across the globe.
People
Alyah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Alyah 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
Alyah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Alyah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,401 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Alyah 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 244,650 US residents.
Is Alyah a common name?
We classify Alyah as "Rare". It ranks above 92.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,419 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Alyah most popular?
The single biggest year for Alyah was 2009, when 65 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Alyah is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Alyah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,197 people with the name Alyah, or 0.40 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,921 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 Alyah 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 Alyah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alyah leans strongly female. 1,182 people counted with this name were female (98.8%), compared with 14 male bearers (1.2%). 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 Alyah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alyah is Hispanic at 50.0%. The next largest groups are Black (21.5%) and White (19.2%). 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 Alyah most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Alyah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 50.0% (598 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 Alyah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Alyah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Alyah 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 Alyah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Alyah 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 Alyah 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 Alyah as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Alyah on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.