Aya
A feminine Arabic name meaning "wonderful" or "a sign from God".
Name Census estimates that about 7,440 living Americans carry the first name Aya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Aya today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Aya births was 2024 (467 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Aya. 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.
Key insights
- • Aya 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
7.4K
~ 1 in 46,069 Americans
Peak year
2024
467 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#630
Tracked since 1972
Popularity
Aya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Aya from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 2,956 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Aya remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Aya 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 Aya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ayas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 33 states and territories. California, New York, Michigan recorded the most babies named Aya, while Nebraska, Alabama, New Mexico recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 180 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Aya
The name Aya is believed to have originated from various ancient languages and cultures, with different meanings and origins attributed to it. One of the earliest known origins can be traced back to the Japanese language, where the name is written using the hiragana characters あや (aya) or 彩 (aya). In Japanese, the name can mean "colorful," "design," or "pattern," reflecting the vibrant and artistic nature of the name.
Another possible origin of the name Aya is from Arabic, where it is spelled آية (Āyah) and means "sign," "miracle," or "verse from the Quran." In Islamic culture, the name holds significance as it is associated with the revelations and teachings found in the holy book.
The name Aya also has roots in the Hebrew language, where it is spelled אָיָה (Ayah) and can mean "bird," "falcon," or "hawk." This connection to birds may symbolize freedom, strength, and keen vision.
In ancient Egyptian history, the name Aya was used as a variant of the name Ay, which was the name of an Egyptian pharaoh who ruled during the 18th Dynasty around 1323–1319 BCE. Pharaoh Ay is known for his brief reign and for completing the construction of the famous mortuary temple of Akhenaten at Akhetaten (modern-day Amarna).
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Aya was Aya of Ghazni, an 11th-century Persian princess and the daughter of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni. She is known for her patronage of art and literature during the Islamic Golden Age.
Another notable figure was Aya of Kyoto, a Japanese Buddhist nun and poet who lived during the Kamakura period (1185–1333 CE). She was renowned for her contributions to the development of Japanese literature and poetry.
In the 16th century, Aya Bey was a prominent Ottoman statesman and military commander who served as the Beylerbeyi (Governor-General) of Egypt from 1549 to 1551 CE.
During the 19th century, Aya Kaneko was a Japanese educator and one of the first female principals in Japan. She played a significant role in promoting women's education and empowerment in the late Edo and Meiji periods.
More recently, Aya Matsuura is a Japanese singer and actress who gained popularity as a member of the J-pop group Morning Musume in the early 2000s.
People
Aya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Aya 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
Aya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Aya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 7,440 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Aya 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 46,069 US residents.
Is Aya a common name?
We classify Aya as "Rare". It ranks above 97.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 7,534 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Aya most popular?
The single biggest year for Aya was 2024, when 467 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Aya is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Aya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Aya 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.
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.