Ligaya

Girls' name

Happiness

Ligaya has been given to 65 babies in the U.S. since 1969. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1980, with 7 recorded.

Babies named Ligaya, 2018

1 in 703,000

Ligaya over time, 1880–2025

Girls

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Ligaya: meaning, origin, and history

Happiness

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Ligaya means

Ligaya means “happiness”, associated with ligaya.

Origin, language, and formation

Ligaya is used in Tagalog.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Tagalog, Ligaya is pronounced /liˈɡaja/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 65 girls were recorded with the name Ligaya between 1969 and 2018. Its highest annual count was 7 in 1980; its best national rank was #7,085 in 1969.

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 Ligaya?

Ligaya had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2018, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2018: 1 in 703,000; 5 of 3,516,853 births
Among girls only: 1 in 340,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 2018: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 487,541 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Ligaya 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 2018 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 487,541 children born in 2018 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Ligaya. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Ligayas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Ligaya was born before 1977 — so the typical Ligaya is around 48 today.

Median birth year: 1977; About 48 years old
Biggest decade: 1970s; 52.3% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 27.7%; Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950: 65; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1970s — 52.3% of all recorded uses (34).

Is Ligaya 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: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 1980 (7)
Years since peak: 45; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Shifting; 20.0% average annual change
Best rank ever: #7,085; 1969

Spellings of Ligaya

Ligaya is not the most common spelling — Liana is, with 53.1% against Ligaya's 0.17%.

Liana53.1%20,666
Inaya8.9%3,453
Liya6.1%2,375
Laya5.4%2,102
Liyana4.3%1,681
Lanaya3.7%1,435
Kimaya2.8%1,104
Miraya2.5%959

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.

Ligaya around the world

Where Ligaya 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.

South Australia
1983–2003
#739
in 2003

Popularity data from Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Ligaya by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #7,085; 1969
Peak year: 1980; 7 that year
First recorded: 1969
Last recorded: 2018
All-time count: 65
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Ligaya

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

Light Solaya Davaya Kylaya Halaya Sadaya Kenaya Jaraya Kinaya Zinaya Nylaya Novaya Karaya Zavaya Hiraya Naraya Celaya Nilaya Aanaya Semaya Arraya Zelaya Mylaya Sinaya

Sibling names for Ligaya

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

For a sister

Charissa Sharonda Shameka Darci Tosha Candi Siobhan Starla

For a brother

Jerod Wilfredo Antwan Ashley Delvin Chauncey Kareem Dusty

Explore around Ligaya

Top names of 1980, Ligaya's peak year The 1980s in full Other names that peaked in 1969 Girls' names starting with L Filipino Girl Names