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Chaya

#588 in 2025Girls' name

Living

Chaya has been given to 15,684 babies in the U.S. since 1947. In 2025 it ranked #588 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2024, with 504 recorded.

Babies named Chaya, 2025

1 in 6,640

Chaya over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Chaya: meaning, origin, and history

Living

Hebrew

What Chaya means

Chaya means “living”, associated with ḥayyā.

Origin, language, and formation

Chaya is used in English. Its origins include Hebrew.

Chaya comes through Hebrew חַיָּה.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 15,674 girls were recorded with the name Chaya between 1947 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 504 in 2024; its best national rank was #588 in 2025.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #662 in 2020 to #588 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #743 in 2015 to #588 in 2025.

In the United States, 10 boys were recorded with the name Chaya between 1981 and 1989. Its highest annual count was 5 in 1981; its best national rank was #6,433 in 1981.

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 Chaya?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 6,640
499 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 3,220
0.03% of girls
Rank, 2025
#588
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
4,606 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Chaya 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 4,606 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Chaya. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Chayas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Chaya was born before 2007 — so the typical Chaya is around 18 today.

Median birth year
2007
About 18 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
26.3% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
65.7%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
15,649
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 26.3% of all recorded uses (4,122).

Is Chaya 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
+11
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+74
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+155
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.32×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
99.0%
Peak was 2024 (504)
Years since peak
1
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Very steady
4.3% average annual change
Best rank ever
#588
2025

Spellings of Chaya

Chaya is not the most common spelling — Clara is, with 34.4% against Chaya's 1.8%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Chaya is used

Across 2016–2025, Chaya was most concentrated in New Jersey — about 1 in 293 girls, against 1 in 2,035 across all states with data. It was least common in North Carolina (1 in 100,000).

1341 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1New Jersey1 in 293
  2. 2New York1 in 319
  3. 3Maryland1 in 3,226
  4. 4Florida1 in 7,143
  5. 5Pennsylvania1 in 7,143
  6. 6Illinois1 in 8,333
  7. 7Ohio1 in 12,500
  8. 8California1 in 16,667

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.

Chaya around the world

Where Chaya 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
    #705
    in 2025
  • France
    1986–2024
    #6,094
    in 2024
  • Canada
    1991–2024
    #2,104
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1980–2004
    #700
    in 2004

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Chaya

People whose public names include Chaya, 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.

Chaya in other languages

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

HayaChaja

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

Chaya by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#588
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 74
Best rank ever
#588
2025
Peak year
2024
504 that year
First recorded
1947
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
15,674
Count in 2025
499

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#6,433
1981
Peak year
1981
5 that year
First recorded
1981
Last recorded
1989
All-time count
10
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Chaya

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

ChanaChanelCharliAnayaChaseChavaChantelAlayaCharleeCharlesCharleyChasityCharisChantalChanteAmayaCharityKayaCharlieChanyCharmArayaCharlyMalaya

Names with a curve like Chaya

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

AlenaAliaReinaRaynaReynaBelenLianaIlianaGiovannaMelinaKennaMariam

Sibling names for Chaya

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 Chaya

Top names of 2024, Chaya's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 2025Girls' names starting with CHebrew Girl Names