Saija

Girls' name

Princess, lady, through Saara

Saija has been given to 46 babies in the U.S. since 1997. 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 2016, with 9 recorded.

Babies named Saija, 2023

1 in 368,000

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Saija: meaning, origin, and history

Princess, lady, through Saara

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Saija means

Saija belongs to the name family reached through Saija → Saara. Its meaning is “princess, lady”.

Origin, language, and formation

Saija is used in Finnish.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Saara.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Finnish, Saija is pronounced /ˈsɑi̯jɑ/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 46 girls were recorded with the name Saija between 1997 and 2023. Its highest annual count was 9 in 2016; its best national rank was #11,018 in 2023.

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 Saija?

Saija had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2023, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2023: 1 in 368,000; 9 of 3,314,783 births
Among girls only: 1 in 178,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 2023: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 255,294 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Saija 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 2023 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 255,294 children born in 2023 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Saija. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Saijas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Saija was born before 2016 — so the typical Saija is around 9 today.

Median birth year: 2016; About 9 years old
Biggest decade: 2020s; 34.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 89.1%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 46; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

2020s — 34.8% of all recorded uses (16).

Is Saija 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 2016 (9)
Years since peak: 9; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Not enough data; Too few years
Best rank ever: #11,018; 2023

Spellings of Saija

Saija is not the most common spelling — Sara is, with 44.9% against Saija's <0.01%.

Sara44.9%436,193
Laila4.5%43,484
Sonja4.1%39,513
Sasha4.0%38,492
Kaia2.2%20,909
Maia1.9%18,200
Kaila1.5%14,556
Aida1.4%13,777

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.

Saija 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: #11,018; 2023
Peak year: 2016; 9 that year
First recorded: 1997
Last recorded: 2023
All-time count: 46
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Saija

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

Saiah Saily Saije Saila Sailyn Saiomi Sailah Saide Sairy Saint Saiyr Saiori Saidi Dwija Sailey Saidie Lucija Saina Sailer Saimi Sairah Sailee Saidey Saia

Sibling names for Saija

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

Karleigh Hadlee Heavenly Ayesha Henley Annalee Raylee Aviana

For a brother

Damari Kye Canaan Vladimir Cayson Hamilton Kingsley Langston

Explore around Saija

Top names of 2016, Saija's peak year The 2010s in full Other names that peaked in 2023 Girls' names starting with S Short Finnish Girl Names