Name Awesome

Aya

#644 in 2025Girls' name

Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition

Aya has been given to 7,987 babies in the U.S. since 1972. In 2025 it ranked #644 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2024, with 469 recorded.

Babies named Aya, 2025

1 in 7,380

Aya over time, 1880–2025

Girls
020040060018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Aya: meaning, origin, and history

Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition

Japanese

What Aya means

Aya has more than one naming route in the cited origin entries: distinct naming traditions.

The naming story behind Aya

One of the source’s documented entries for Aya records a meaning of colour.

One of the source’s documented entries for Aya records a meaning of sign, evidence.

One of the source’s documented entries for Aya records a meaning of dawn.

A separate documented entry treats Aya as a form of Aia. That is a personal-name relationship, which differs from translating the letters of the modern spelling into one universal English word. The linked origin entry identifies the context of this relationship.

Origin, language, and formation

Aya is used in English, French and Turkish. Its origins include Japanese.

Aya comes through Japanese あや.

Pronunciation and spelling

In French, Aya is pronounced /a.ja/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 7,987 girls were recorded with the name Aya between 1972 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 469 in 2024; its best national rank was #630 in 2024.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #789 in 2020 to #644 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #893 in 2015 to #644 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Aya?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 7,380
449 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 3,580
0.03% of girls
Rank, 2025
#644
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
5,119 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Aya sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 1001%
School of 5007%

Put another way: gather 5,119 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Aya. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Ayas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Aya was born before 2015 — so the typical Aya is around 10 today.

Median birth year
2015
About 10 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
37.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
88.2%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
7,987
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 37.0% of all recorded uses (2,956).

Is Aya rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−14
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
+145
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+249
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.45×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
95.7%
Peak was 2024 (469)
Years since peak
1
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Steady
7.8% average annual change
Best rank ever
#630
2024

Where Aya is used

Across 2016–2025, Aya was most concentrated in Michigan — about 1 in 1,449 girls, against 1 in 3,699 across all states with data. It was least common in Alabama (1 in 33,333).

369 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Michigan1 in 1,449
  2. 2District of Columbia1 in 1,471
  3. 3Virginia1 in 1,887
  4. 4Massachusetts1 in 1,961
  5. 5Hawaii1 in 2,128
  6. 6Washington1 in 2,326
  7. 7New York1 in 2,439
  8. 8Illinois1 in 2,632

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Geographically, Aya is somewhat regional — more concentrated than 77% of the names used widely enough to compare. See the most regional names

Aya around the world

Where Aya ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2025
    #221
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    2003–2025
    #359
    in 2025
  • Northern Ireland
    2017–2023
    #391
    in 2023
  • Ireland
    2002–2025
    #483
    in 2025
  • France
    1975–2025
    #49
    in 2025
  • Norway
    1880–2025
    #206
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1991–2024
    #147
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1988–2013
    #818
    in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Norway, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS, NISRA data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, SSB, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Aya

People whose public names include Aya, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Aya in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Aya. Linked forms have their own page here.

AjaRaya

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Aya by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#644
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 145
Best rank ever
#630
2024
Peak year
2024
469 that year
First recorded
1972
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
7,987
Count in 2025
449

Names similar to Aya

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

AyahAyanaRayaTayaNayaKayaAyatJayaAyannaAyanAlayaZayaLayaAyalaArayaChayaMalayaHayaAnayaInayaSorayaSayaDayaAvaya

Names with a curve like Aya

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Aya, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

MilenaNoorAzariahZainabPromiseZahraHadassahAmirahTreasureMaddieGalileaElina

Sibling names for Aya

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Aya

Top names of 2024, Aya's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 2024Girls' names starting with ABird Names