Taaliyah
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "student of God".
Name Census estimates that about 266 living Americans carry the first name Taaliyah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Taaliyah today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Taaliyah births was 2002 (31 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Taaliyah. 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.
People living today
266
~ 1 in 1,288,550 Americans
Peak year
2002
31 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#17,353
Tracked since 1998
Popularity
Taaliyah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Taaliyah 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 140 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Taaliyah 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 Taaliyah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Taaliyahs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Taaliyah
The name Taaliyah is of Arabic origin, derived from the word "taaliya" which means "to follow" or "to succeed." It emerged during the early Islamic era, around the 7th century AD, in regions where Arabic was the predominant language.
The name Taaliyah is believed to have first appeared in ancient Arabic texts and manuscripts, though its usage was likely limited to certain regions and communities in the Middle East and North Africa. As Islam spread, the name gained popularity among Muslim communities across the world.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Taaliyah can be found in the works of the renowned Arab poet and scholar, Abu Nuwas, who lived in the 8th century AD. He mentioned the name in one of his poems, though the context is not entirely clear.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Taaliyah. One of the most famous was Taaliyah al-Isfahani, a renowned female scholar and poet from the 10th century AD. She was known for her mastery of Arabic literature and her contributions to the field of Islamic jurisprudence.
Another notable figure was Taaliyah bint al-Muqaddam, a 12th-century Muslim woman from Andalusia (modern-day Spain) who was renowned for her expertise in medicine and her role as a physician to the royal court.
In more recent times, Taaliyah al-Baghdadi was a prominent Iraqi writer and activist who lived in the early 20th century. She was a fierce advocate for women's rights and played a pivotal role in the Iraqi literary and cultural renaissance of that era.
Taaliyah Khanum was an influential Persian princess and poet who lived in the 17th century. She was known for her patronage of the arts and her contributions to the development of Persian literature during the Safavid dynasty.
The name Taaliyah has also been used by several contemporary figures, such as Taaliyah Nasr, a renowned Egyptian actress and television personality, and Taaliyah Al-Bakri, a talented Omani artist and sculptor.
People
Taaliyah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Taaliyah as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with T
Other first names starting with T with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Taaliyah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Taaliyah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 266 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Taaliyah 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 1,288,550 US residents.
Is Taaliyah a common name?
We classify Taaliyah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 269 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Taaliyah most popular?
The single biggest year for Taaliyah was 2002, when 31 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Taaliyah is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Taaliyah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Taaliyah 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.