Fun Facts About the Name Aliya
- More than 11 thousand babies named Aliya: U.S. records list 11,073 babies given the name Aliya from 1880 through 2025.
What Does the Name Aliya Mean?
Aliya is most often an Arabic feminine name meaning "high" or "exalted." It comes from the root ʿ-l-w, which has to do with height and elevation, and it is the feminine form of the masculine name ʿAlī (from ʿāliyy, "high, elevated"). The same root appears in al-ʿAlī, "the Most High," one of the names of God in the Qur'an, which is part of why the masculine form has stayed so familiar in the Muslim world.
Spelled the same way in English, the name can also represent the Hebrew ʿaliyah (עֲלִיָּה), "ascent" or "going up," from the root ʿ-l-h, "to go up." That is a separate origin that happens to look identical in Latin letters. Several transliterations are in circulation - Aliyah, Aliya, and Aaliyah - and they are not always distinguishable by spelling, so a bearer's intended meaning usually depends on family background rather than on the letters.
Aliya Name History & Origins
The Arabic name was in use as the feminine counterpart of ʿAlī in the early Islamic centuries, and it spread with Arabic and with Islam: it appears among Arabic-speaking communities in the Middle East and North Africa, and also in places where the language of everyday life is not Arabic but Muslim naming customs are common, such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Tatarstan, Bosnia, and South Asia. In much of that region the name is understood simply as "high" or "exalted," without any further reference.
The Hebrew ʿaliyah developed in a religious setting rather than as a personal name at first. In Jewish practice it names the honor of being called up to the Torah during a synagogue service, and in modern usage it also means the immigration of Jews to Israel, a sense attached to the waves of arrival beginning in the 1880s. Using Aliyah or Aliya as a girl's given name in English is a more recent step, and the spelling Aaliyah is a later English respelling of the Arabic form rather than a different name.
How Popular is the Name Aliya?
Aliya recorded its highest annual U.S. birth count in 2012. Its best rank was #598 in 2012.
U.S. name popularity from 1880-2025, based on SSA data. Rank shows how the name compares with other names - lower numbers mean greater popularity. Births shows how many babies received the name each year.
| Year | Rank | Births | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | #823 | 330 | 0.0205% |
| 2024 | #851 | 316 | 0.0196% |
| 2023 | #870 | 308 | 0.0192% |
| 2022 | #842 | 332 | 0.0203% |
| 2021 | #782 | 362 | 0.0221% |
| 2020 | #863 | 312 | 0.0193% |
| 2019 | #886 | 304 | 0.0181% |
| 2018 | #915 | 293 | 0.0172% |
| 2017 | #923 | 287 | 0.0166% |
| 2016 | #852 | 332 | 0.0187% |
| 2015 | #928 | 293 | 0.0164% |
| 2014 | #866 | 318 | 0.0178% |
| 2013 | #759 | 358 | 0.0204% |
| 2012 | #598 | 483 | 0.0274% |
| 2011 | #657 | 432 | 0.0246% |
| 2010 | #652 | 450 | 0.0253% |
| 2009 | #654 | 452 | 0.0246% |
| 2008 | #668 | 460 | 0.0243% |
| 2007 | #738 | 395 | 0.0205% |
| 2006 | #705 | 404 | 0.0213% |
| 2005 | #698 | 396 | 0.0214% |
| 2004 | #761 | 342 | 0.0186% |
| 2003 | #769 | 323 | 0.0177% |
| 2002 | #743 | 327 | 0.0182% |
| 2001 | #715 | 343 | 0.0190% |
| 2000 | #718 | 322 | 0.0177% |
| 1999 | #960 | 215 | 0.0121% |
| 1998 | #1,046 | 188 | 0.0106% |
| 1997 | #1,149 | 162 | 0.0093% |
| 1996 | #1,204 | 149 | 0.0085% |
| 1995 | #1,355 | 121 | 0.0069% |
| 1994 | #1,478 | 107 | 0.0060% |
| 1993 | #2,045 | 67 | 0.0037% |
| 1992 | #2,295 | 57 | 0.0031% |
| 1991 | #2,321 | 55 | 0.0029% |
| 1990 | #3,526 | 30 | 0.0016% |
| 1989 | #2,170 | 56 | 0.0030% |
| 1988 | #3,227 | 30 | 0.0017% |
| 1987 | #2,724 | 36 | 0.0021% |
| 1986 | #2,513 | 39 | 0.0023% |
| 1985 | #3,171 | 28 | 0.0016% |
| 1984 | #2,423 | 39 | 0.0023% |
| 1983 | #3,341 | 24 | 0.0014% |
| 1982 | #2,250 | 44 | 0.0026% |
| 1981 | #2,118 | 48 | 0.0029% |
| 1980 | #2,154 | 47 | 0.0028% |
| 1979 | #2,116 | 47 | 0.0029% |
| 1978 | #2,742 | 30 | 0.0020% |
| 1977 | #2,839 | 28 | 0.0018% |
| 1976 | #3,290 | 21 | 0.0014% |
| 1975 | #2,684 | 28 | 0.0019% |
| 1974 | #3,110 | 22 | 0.0015% |
| 1973 | #2,350 | 32 | 0.0022% |
| 1972 | #2,278 | 33 | 0.0022% |
| 1971 | #3,794 | 16 | 0.0010% |
Name popularity over more than a century, based on Social Security Administration data. Gaps in the chart indicate years when the name does not appear in the published records.
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How the Name Aliya Shapes Your Personality and Life?
Powerful and complete. You are good intellectually and require several outlets for your energies. You are not a builder but a planner, and you want others to carry out your plans. You are bold, independent, inquisitive and interested in research. You know what you want and why you want it.
Creative and outgoing, you are always looking for an opportunity to show your abilities, especially before audience. You are very flexible and like to feel appreciated. You are looking for chances to mix with others socially and to communicate your ideas. You like to talk and can easily relate to different cultures and concepts. The biggest challenge for you is uncertainty. Easily getting bored, you can move from one job to another, switch projects and lovers. The high creative force can lead you either to happiness or unhappiness. If you understand your goals, if you can make major decisions in life and follow it directly and straight up without worry and uncertainty, you are able to achieve great heights.
✦ Aliya's Deeper Meaning & Tips for Parents Discover Aliya's symbolic numbers and practical tips for choosing a name that complements your child's birth date.