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Kaliyah

#392 in 2025Girls' name

Literal meaning not recorded

Kaliyah has been given to 12,951 babies in the U.S. since 1994. In 2025 it ranked #392 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2025, with 791 recorded.

Babies named Kaliyah, 2025

1 in 4,190

Kaliyah over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
020040060080018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Kaliyah: meaning, origin, and history

Literal meaning not recorded

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Kaliyah means

Kaliyah is a given name.

Origin, language, and formation

Kaliyah is used in English.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 12,946 girls were recorded with the name Kaliyah between 1994 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 791 in 2025; its best national rank was #392 in 2025.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #564 in 2020 to #392 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #543 in 2015 to #392 in 2025.

In the United States, 5 boys were recorded with the name Kaliyah between 2004 and 2004. Its highest annual count was 5 in 2004; its best national rank was #12,284 in 2004.

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 Kaliyah?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 4,190
791 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 2,030
0.05% of girls
Rank, 2025
#392
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
2,906 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Kaliyah 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 1002%
School of 50011%

Put another way: gather 2,906 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Kaliyah. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Kaliyahs were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Kaliyah was born before 2014 — so the typical Kaliyah is around 11 today.

Median birth year
2014
About 11 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
42.3% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
96.1%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
12,946
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 42.3% of all recorded uses (5,473).

Is Kaliyah 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
+50
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+172
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+151
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.37×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
100.0%
Peak was 2025 (791)
Years since peak
Peaking now
At its all-time high
Year-to-year steadiness
Steady
9.0% average annual change
Best rank ever
#392
2025

Spellings of Kaliyah

Kaliyah is not the most common spelling — Aaliyah is, with 20.2% against Kaliyah's 2.4%.

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 Kaliyah is used

Across 2016–2025, Kaliyah was most concentrated in Mississippi — about 1 in 685 girls, against 1 in 2,420 across all states with data. It was least common in Utah (1 in 14,286).

7146 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Mississippi1 in 685
  2. 2Alabama1 in 1,053
  3. 3South Carolina1 in 1,075
  4. 4Louisiana1 in 1,449
  5. 5Tennessee1 in 1,449
  6. 6Arkansas1 in 1,471
  7. 7Georgia1 in 1,471
  8. 8Florida1 in 1,515

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, Kaliyah is somewhat regional — more concentrated than 70% of the names used widely enough to compare. See the most regional names

Kaliyah around the world

Where Kaliyah 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
    2000–2025
    #696
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    2022–2025
    #632
    in 2025
  • Ireland
    2025–2025
    #718
    in 2025
  • France
    2014–2021
    #6,213
    in 2021
  • Canada
    2001–2024
    #746
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    2003–2013
    #536
    in 2013

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

Kaliyah by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#392
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 172
Best rank ever
#392
2025
Peak year
2025
791 that year
First recorded
1994
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
12,946
Count in 2025
791

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#12,284
2004
Peak year
2004
5 that year
First recorded
2004
Last recorded
2004
All-time count
5
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Kaliyah

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

KalayahKaleyahKaleighKallieKalaniJaniyahJaliyahMaliyahKaleeyahKaleyTaliyahKalaiyahKalistaKaleiyahZariyahZaniyahKaleenaKaleahSaniyahKalinaMariyahSariyahKalynnAlayah

Names with a curve like Kaliyah

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

ZariahAleenaLeylaSienaAylinAnayaAlianaMadilynnMilanAnnaliseArmaniMalaya

Sibling names for Kaliyah

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 Kaliyah

Top names of 2025, Kaliyah's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 2025Girls' names starting with K