Raija

Girls' name

From Russian Рая; literal meaning unconfirmed

Raija has been given to 16 babies in the U.S. since 1995. 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 1999, with 6 recorded.

Babies named Raija, 2001

1 in 748,000

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Raija: meaning, origin, and history

From Russian Рая; literal meaning unconfirmed

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Raija means

Raija is a given name.

Origin, language, and formation

Raija is used in Finnish.

Raija comes through Russian Рая.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Finnish, Raija is pronounced /ˈrɑi̯jɑ/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 16 girls were recorded with the name Raija between 1995 and 2001. Its highest annual count was 6 in 1999; its best national rank was #13,994 in 1999.

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 Raija?

Raija had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2001, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2001: 1 in 748,000; 5 of 3,742,181 births
Among girls only: 1 in 360,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 2001: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 518,778 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Raija 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 2001 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 518,778 children born in 2001 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Raija. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Raijas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Raija was born before 1999 — so the typical Raija is around 26 today.

Median birth year: 1999; About 26 years old
Biggest decade: 1990s; 68.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 100.0%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 16; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1990s — 68.8% of all recorded uses (11).

Is Raija 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 1999 (6)
Years since peak: 26; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Not enough data; Too few years
Best rank ever: #13,994; 1999

Spellings of Raija

Raija is not the most common spelling — Rita is, with 42.5% against Raija's <0.01%.

Rita42.5%284,452
Laila6.5%43,484
Kaia3.1%20,909
Maia2.7%18,200
Kaila2.2%14,556
Reina2.1%14,080
Aida2.1%13,777
Rayna2.0%13,386

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.

Raija 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: #13,994; 1999
Peak year: 1999; 6 that year
First recorded: 1995
Last recorded: 2001
All-time count: 16
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Raija

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

Raily Raifa Raiyna Raila Railani Raimy Raign Dwija Raiyn Raiha Rainer Raida Raigyn Rainne Shrija Raiqa Raika Raiin Raime Raihan Raiah Teija Raimi Enija

Sibling names for Raija

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

Tatianna Caleigh Chyna Kaylah Calista Destini Carson Kayley

For a brother

Jaren Marshal Maximillian Stone Devyn Garrison Tyrese Josef

Explore around Raija

Top names of 1999, Raija's peak year The 1990s in full Other names that peaked in 1999 Girls' names starting with R