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Kaija

#7,661 in 2025Girls' name

Possibly Hecate or each of the two, through Katariina

Kaija has been given to 1,028 babies in the U.S. since 1967. In 2025 it ranked #7,661 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2002, with 49 recorded.

Babies named Kaija, 2025

1 in 237,000

Kaija over time, 1880–2025

Girls
020406018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Kaija: meaning, origin, and history

Possibly Hecate or each of the two, through Katariina

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Kaija means

Kaija belongs to the name family reached through Kaija → Katariina → Katarina → Αἰκατερίνη. Its meaning is “Hecate or each of the two”.

Origin, language, and formation

Kaija is used in Finnish.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Katariina, Kaia, Katarina and Αἰκατερίνη.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Finnish, Kaija is pronounced /ˈkɑi̯jɑ/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 1,028 girls were recorded with the name Kaija between 1967 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 49 in 2002; its best national rank was #2,981 in 2001.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #6,187 in 2020 to #7,661 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #7,112 in 2015 to #7,661 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 Kaija?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 237,000
14 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 115,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#7,661
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
164,137 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Kaija 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 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 164,137 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Kaija. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Kaijas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Kaija was born before 2003 — so the typical Kaija is around 22 today.

Median birth year
2003
About 22 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
34.6% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
62.0%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
1,028
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 34.6% of all recorded uses (356).

Is Kaija 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
−1,147
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−1,474
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−549
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.82×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
28.6%
Peak was 2002 (49)
Years since peak
23
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
33.2% average annual change
Best rank ever
#2,981
2001

Spellings of Kaija

Kaija is not the most common spelling — Kayla is, with 30.3% against Kaija's 0.09%.

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 Kaija is used

Across 1910–2025, Kaija was most concentrated in Minnesota — about 1 in 100,000 girls, against 1 in 570,905 across all states with data. It was least common in Wisconsin (1 in —).

01 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Minnesota1 in 100,000
  2. 2California1 in —
  3. 3Michigan1 in —
  4. 4Texas1 in —
  5. 5Wisconsin1 in —

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. Kaija has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Kaija around the world

Where Kaija 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
    1997–2002
    #2,868
    in 2002
  • Canada
    1992–2024
    #3,027
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1961–2008
    #796
    in 2008

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Kaija by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#7,661
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 1,474
Best rank ever
#2,981
2001
Peak year
2002
49 that year
First recorded
1967
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
1,028
Count in 2025
14

Names similar to Kaija

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

KaiahKaisaKaidaKaishaKaileaKailyKailinKaiyahKaidynKailieKailiKairaKaidenKaiorKairoMaijaKailanKailahKairyKaileKaileenKairiKaityKaislee

Sibling names for Kaija

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 Kaija

Top names of 2002, Kaija's peak yearThe 2000s in fullOther names that peaked in 2001Girls' names starting with KUncommon Finnish Girl Names