Haliyah
A feminine Arabic given name meaning "ornament" or "embellishment".
Name Census estimates that about 143 living Americans carry the first name Haliyah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Haliyah today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Haliyah births was 2004 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Haliyah. 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 Haliyah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
143
~ 1 in 2,396,883 Americans
Peak year
2004
12 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2023 SSA rank
#16,033
Tracked since 1997
Census
Haliyah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 128 people with the first name Haliyah, which placed it at #49,019 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
#49,019
National first-name rank
People counted
128
128 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
60.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Haliyah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Haliyah is Black at 60.2%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (14.1%) and Hispanic (12.5%). 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 Haliyah 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 Haliyah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American60.2% · 77
- Two or more races14.1% · 18
- Hispanic or Latino12.5% · 16
- White9.4% · 12
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.9% · 5
Popularity
Haliyah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Haliyah 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 70 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
Haliyah 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 Haliyah 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 Haliyah
The name Haliyah is of Arabic origin, derived from the root word "halal," which means "permissible" or "lawful" in Islamic teachings. The earliest recorded use of this name can be traced back to the 7th century, during the rise of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula.
Haliyah was a relatively uncommon name during the medieval period, but it gained popularity among Muslim communities in various parts of the Middle East and North Africa. One of the earliest known recorded instances of this name was Haliyah bint Abi Bakr, a distant relative of the Prophet Muhammad, who lived in the 7th century.
In the 12th century, Haliyah al-Dimashqi was a renowned scholar and poet from Damascus, known for her mastery of Arabic literature and her contributions to the literary circles of the time. She was highly regarded for her knowledge and her works, which have survived to this day.
During the 13th century, Haliyah al-Andalusi was a prominent mathematician and astronomer from Al-Andalus (modern-day Spain). She made significant contributions to the field of mathematics and was one of the few women scientists of her time.
In the 15th century, Haliyah al-Qahirah was a renowned calligrapher and artist from Cairo, Egypt. Her works were highly sought after, and she was renowned for her intricate calligraphic designs and her mastery of the Arabic script.
Another notable figure with the name Haliyah was Haliyah bint al-Husayn, a 16th-century princess from the Ottoman Empire. She was known for her patronage of the arts and her support for scholars and artists during her time.
While the name Haliyah has not been widely used in recent centuries, it has maintained its connection to its Arabic roots and the rich cultural heritage of the Islamic world. The name carries connotations of purity, legality, and righteousness, reflecting the values and principles of Islamic teachings.
People
Haliyah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Haliyah as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with H
Other first names starting with H with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Haliyah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Haliyah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 143 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Haliyah 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 2,396,883 US residents.
Is Haliyah a common name?
We classify Haliyah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 69.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 145 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Haliyah most popular?
The single biggest year for Haliyah was 2004, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Haliyah 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 Haliyah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 128 people with the name Haliyah, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #49,019 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 Haliyah 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 Haliyah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Haliyah leans strongly female. 134 people counted with this name were female (96.4%), compared with 5 male bearers (3.6%). 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 Haliyah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Haliyah is Black at 60.2%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (14.1%) and Hispanic (12.5%). 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 Haliyah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Haliyah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.2% (77 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 Haliyah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Haliyah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Haliyah 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 Haliyah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Haliyah 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 Haliyah 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 are named Haliyah?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.