Kaliya
A feminine name of Indian origin meaning "serpent" or "snake".
Name Census estimates that about 1,027 living Americans carry the first name Kaliya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kaliya today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kaliya births was 2009 (57 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kaliya. 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
- • Kaliya is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 15 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.0K
~ 1 in 333,743 Americans
Peak year
2009
57 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,131
Tracked since 1993
Popularity
Kaliya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kaliya 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 403 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Kaliya remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kaliya 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 Kaliya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kaliyas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. California, Georgia, Texas recorded the most babies named Kaliya, while New York, Florida, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 28 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kaliya
The name Kaliya has its origins in Sanskrit, an ancient Indo-Aryan language that was the classical literary language of the Indian subcontinent. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "kali," which means "black" or "dark," and is often associated with the Hindu goddess Kali, the fierce and powerful embodiment of divine feminine energy.
In Hindu mythology, Kaliya is the name of a powerful serpent or naga who resided in the Yamuna River near the city of Vrindavan. According to the Bhagavata Purana, one of the most important sacred texts of Hinduism, Lord Krishna subdued and defeated Kaliya after the serpent had poisoned the waters of the river, causing great distress to the inhabitants of Vrindavan.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Kaliya can be found in ancient Hindu scriptures and texts, such as the Puranas and the Mahabharata, which date back to the first millennium BCE. The name gained popularity in India and other parts of South Asia, particularly among Hindu communities.
One of the earliest known historical figures with the name Kaliya was Kaliya Malla, a 12th-century ruler of the Malla dynasty in Nepal. He is credited with building several temples and monuments in the Kathmandu Valley, including the famous Changu Narayan Temple.
Another notable figure was Kaliya Mardan, a renowned 16th-century Sufi saint and poet from the Indian subcontinent. He was known for his devotional poetry and his teachings on the path of spiritual enlightenment.
In more recent history, Kaliya Singh (1837-1887) was an influential Indian politician and social reformer from the state of Uttar Pradesh. He played a significant role in the Indian independence movement and advocated for the rights of peasants and the abolition of oppressive land revenue systems.
Kaliya Ranjan Qanungo (1888-1953) was a distinguished Indian historian and scholar who made significant contributions to the study of Indian history, particularly the medieval period. He served as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calcutta and was awarded the Padma Bhushan, one of India's highest civilian honors.
Kaliya Kunju Rani (1905-1990) was a renowned Indian classical dancer and choreographer from Kerala. She was instrumental in reviving and promoting the traditional Mohiniyattam dance form and was awarded the Padma Shri, one of India's highest civilian honors, for her contributions to the field of dance.
People
Kaliya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kaliya as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Kaliya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kaliya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,027 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kaliya 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 333,743 US residents.
Is Kaliya a common name?
We classify Kaliya as "Rare". It ranks above 90.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,039 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kaliya most popular?
The single biggest year for Kaliya was 2009, when 57 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kaliya is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Kaliya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kaliya 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.