Jalaya
A feminine name of Sanskrit origin meaning "water-born" or "water lily".
Name Census estimates that about 1,847 living Americans carry the first name Jalaya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jalaya today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jalaya births was 2010 (112 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jalaya. 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
- • Jalaya 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
1.8K
~ 1 in 185,574 Americans
Peak year
2010
112 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,388
Tracked since 1993
Popularity
Jalaya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jalaya 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 872 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Jalaya remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jalaya 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 Jalaya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jalayas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 20 states and territories. Florida, South Carolina, Louisiana recorded the most babies named Jalaya, while Mississippi, Minnesota, Arizona recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 40 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jalaya
The name Jalaya is believed to have its origins in Sanskrit, an ancient language from the Indian subcontinent. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "jala," meaning water, and "aya," meaning to go or move. Combined, the name can be interpreted as "one who moves through water" or "one who flows like water."
In ancient Hindu scriptures, such as the Vedas and Puranas, there are references to celestial beings and divine nymphs associated with water bodies. It is possible that the name Jalaya was inspired by these mythological figures, symbolizing grace, beauty, and fluidity.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jalaya can be found in the Mahabharata, an epic Hindu scripture dating back to around the 8th century BCE. In this text, Jalaya is mentioned as the name of a celestial nymph or apsara, associated with the celestial realm.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Jalaya. In the 7th century CE, Jalaya was the name of a renowned Sanskrit scholar and poet from the southern Indian region of Karnataka. Her literary works, though not widely preserved, were highly regarded during her time.
Another notable Jalaya was a 12th-century Hindu philosopher and logician from the Mithila region of present-day Bihar, India. He is renowned for his contributions to the Navya-Nyaya school of logic and for his treatise on epistemology, titled "Jalaya-Nyaya-Manjari."
In the 16th century, Jalaya was the name of a female poet and mystic from the Vijayanagara Empire in southern India. Her devotional poetry, written in the Kannada language, is still celebrated today, and she is remembered as a significant figure in the Bhakti movement.
During the 18th century, Jalaya was the name of a renowned Kathak dancer and choreographer from the Lucknow region of northern India. She is credited with preserving and popularizing the classical dance form, and her contributions to the art are widely recognized.
In more recent times, Jalaya has been the name of several notable individuals, including Jalaya Rana, an Indian classical dancer and choreographer who has performed and taught extensively in India and abroad, and Jalaya Suderman, a Canadian television actress known for her roles in popular shows like "Supernatural" and "The 100."
People
Jalaya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jalaya as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with J
Other first names starting with J with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Jalaya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jalaya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,847 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jalaya 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 185,574 US residents.
Is Jalaya a common name?
We classify Jalaya as "Rare". It ranks above 93.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,866 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jalaya most popular?
The single biggest year for Jalaya was 2010, when 112 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jalaya is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Jalaya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jalaya 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.