Laiya
An invented name of uncertain meaning or origin.
Name Census estimates that about 483 living Americans carry the first name Laiya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Laiya today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Laiya births was 2019 (40 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Laiya. 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 Laiya with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
483
~ 1 in 709,636 Americans
Peak year
2019
40 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,787
Tracked since 1978
Census
Laiya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 335 people with the first name Laiya, which placed it at #27,353 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
#27,353
National first-name rank
People counted
335
335 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
64.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Laiya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Laiya is Black at 64.2%. The next largest groups are White (12.2%) and Hispanic (9.6%). 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 Laiya 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 Laiya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American64.2% · 215
- White12.2% · 41
- Hispanic or Latino9.6% · 32
- Two or more races8.1% · 27
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.4% · 18
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 2
Popularity
Laiya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Laiya from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 259 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Laiya remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Laiya 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 Laiya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Laiyas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Texas, Georgia, Florida recorded the most babies named Laiya, while New York, Florida, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 9 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Laiya
The name Laiya is believed to have its origins in the Hawaiian language and culture. It is a variation of the name Laia, which is derived from the Hawaiian word "laia," meaning "calm" or "peaceful." The name Laiya is thought to have been used in Hawaii as early as the 18th century, during the time of the Hawaiian monarchy.
One of the earliest documented references to the name Laiya can be found in the writings of David Malo, a Hawaiian historian and scholar who lived in the early 19th century. Malo's work, "Hawaiian Antiquities," published in 1838, mentions a woman named Laiya who was a member of the Hawaiian nobility.
Throughout the 19th century, the name Laiya gained popularity among Hawaiian families, particularly those of noble or chiefly descent. One notable figure with this name was Laiya Kaumuali'i, a Hawaiian princess who lived from 1819 to 1889. She was a member of the royal family of Kauai and played an important role in preserving Hawaiian culture and traditions.
In the early 20th century, the name Laiya continued to be used by Hawaiian families, but it also started to gain recognition outside of Hawaii. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Laiya outside of Hawaii was Laiya Pakalua, a Hawaiian-born actress who appeared in several Hollywood films in the 1920s and 1930s.
Another notable figure with the name Laiya was Laiya Williamson, an Indigenous Australian author and activist who lived from 1909 to 1965. She was a member of the Pitjantjatjara people and played a significant role in advocating for the rights of Indigenous Australians.
In more recent times, the name Laiya has been used by individuals from various cultural backgrounds, although its origins can still be traced back to the Hawaiian language and culture. One example is Laiya Hayley, a British-born singer and songwriter of Jamaican and Indian descent, who gained popularity in the 2010s.
People
Laiya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Laiya as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with L
Other first names starting with L with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Laiya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Laiya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 483 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Laiya 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 709,636 US residents.
Is Laiya a common name?
We classify Laiya as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 488 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Laiya most popular?
The single biggest year for Laiya was 2019, when 40 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Laiya is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Laiya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 335 people with the name Laiya, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #27,353 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 Laiya 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 Laiya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Laiya appears almost entirely female. Of the 336 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Laiya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Laiya is Black at 64.2%. The next largest groups are White (12.2%) and Hispanic (9.6%). 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 Laiya most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Laiya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.2% (215 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 Laiya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Laiya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Laiya 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 Laiya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Laiya 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 Laiya 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 common is the name Laiya?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.