Leiya
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly related to the Arabic "layla" meaning "night".
Name Census estimates that about 323 living Americans carry the first name Leiya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Leiya today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Leiya births was 2007 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Leiya. 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 Leiya with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
323
~ 1 in 1,061,159 Americans
Peak year
2007
19 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,783
Tracked since 1979
Census
Leiya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 242 people with the first name Leiya, which placed it at #33,953 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
#33,953
National first-name rank
People counted
242
242 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
31.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Leiya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leiya is White at 31.8%. The next largest groups are Black (30.2%) and Hispanic (17.4%). 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 Leiya 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 Leiya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White31.8% · 77
- Black or African American30.2% · 73
- Hispanic or Latino17.4% · 42
- Asian and Pacific Islander11.6% · 28
- Two or more races8.7% · 21
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 1
Popularity
Leiya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Leiya from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 136 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Leiya remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Leiya 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 Leiya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Leiyas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Leiya
The name Leiya is believed to have its origins in the Arabic language. It is derived from the Arabic word "layla," which means "night" or "dark beauty." This name has been popular in the Middle Eastern region for centuries.
The earliest recorded use of the name Leiya can be traced back to the 7th century CE, during the Islamic Golden Age. It was a common name among Arab women during this time period. The name is mentioned in several ancient Arabic texts and poetry, often used to describe a beautiful and mysterious woman.
One of the earliest known historical figures with the name Leiya was Leiya bint Al-Amin, a renowned poet who lived in Baghdad during the 9th century CE. She was known for her eloquent verses and was highly respected in the literary circles of her time.
Another notable figure was Leiya Al-Andalusiya, a 10th-century Muslim scholar and writer from Islamic Spain (Al-Andalus). She was renowned for her contributions to the fields of mathematics and astronomy.
In the 12th century, Leiya Al-Hamdaniya was a famous female physician and philosopher from Damascus. She wrote several treatises on medicine and philosophy and was considered a pioneering figure in her field.
During the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century, Leiya Sultan was a prominent figure in the imperial court. She was the daughter of Sultan Selim II and played an influential role in the politics of the time.
In more recent history, Leiya Gailani was an Iraqi archaeologist and historian who lived from 1892 to 1976. She was a pioneer in the field of Iraqi archaeology and played a significant role in preserving the country's cultural heritage.
While the name Leiya has its roots in the Arabic language, it has also been adopted and used in various cultures and regions over time, particularly in the Middle East and parts of North Africa. Its popularity has endured due to its beautiful meaning and rich cultural heritage.
People
Leiya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Leiya 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
Leiya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Leiya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 323 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Leiya 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 1,061,159 US residents.
Is Leiya a common name?
We classify Leiya as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 327 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Leiya most popular?
The single biggest year for Leiya was 2007, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Leiya is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Leiya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 242 people with the name Leiya, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #33,953 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 Leiya 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 Leiya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Leiya appears almost entirely female. Of the 243 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Leiya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leiya is White at 31.8%. The next largest groups are Black (30.2%) and Hispanic (17.4%). 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 Leiya most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Leiya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 31.8% (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 Leiya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Leiya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Leiya 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 Leiya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Leiya 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 Leiya 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 called Leiya?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.