Fun Facts About the Name Araya
- More than 4 thousand babies named Araya: U.S. records list 4,194 babies given the name Araya from 1880 through 2025. Even 10 boys received the name Araya - about 1 boy for every 418 girls.
What Does the Name Araya Mean?
Araya is, in its earliest documented form, a place name and surname from the Basque Country and the wider Spanish-speaking world; as a personal name its literal sense is uncertain. The Basque village of Araia, in the Asparrena district of Álava, is the usual point of origin given for the surname Araya. A connection to the Basque word aran, "valley," is sometimes proposed for the village name, but the derivation is not settled.
The surname Araya is found in Spain, especially in the Canary Islands, and in Latin America, including Chile, Costa Rica, and Venezuela. It also appears in place names tied to Spanish settlement, among them the Araya Peninsula on Venezuela's Caribbean coast.
Separately, Araya is a given name in the Horn of Africa, used in Ethiopia and Eritrea, where it is usually masculine and is also written Araia. It should not be assumed to share an origin with the Sanskrit name Arya (ārya, "noble"), which comes from a different language family, even though the two can look alike in English spelling.
Araya Name History & Origins
The name rests on the Basque place name Araia and on the Spanish surname Araya taken from it. Surnames drawn from village names were established across northern Spain in the medieval period, and Araya appears as a family name in Spain before spreading through Spanish emigration to the Canary Islands and the Americas. The Venezuelan Araya Peninsula, named in the colonial era, became a notable salt-producing center.
In Ethiopia and Eritrea, Araya has been used as a personal name at least since the nineteenth century, when Araya Selassie Yohannes, a son of Emperor Yohannes IV, bore it. The given name as used in Spanish-speaking countries and in the United States appears to have grown out of the surname rather than out of any single historical or literary figure.
How Popular is the Name Araya?
Araya recorded its highest annual U.S. birth count in 2022. Its best rank was #899 in 2022.
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 | #1,052 | 235 | 0.0146% |
| 2024 | #1,075 | 230 | 0.0143% |
| 2023 | #993 | 257 | 0.0160% |
| 2022 | #899 | 310 | 0.0189% |
| 2021 | #1,050 | 240 | 0.0146% |
| 2020 | #1,260 | 180 | 0.0111% |
| 2019 | #1,291 | 178 | 0.0106% |
| 2018 | #1,241 | 187 | 0.0110% |
| 2017 | #1,274 | 185 | 0.0107% |
| 2016 | #1,371 | 171 | 0.0097% |
| 2015 | #1,361 | 174 | 0.0097% |
| 2014 | #1,480 | 151 | 0.0085% |
| 2013 | #1,725 | 120 | 0.0068% |
| 2012 | #1,701 | 123 | 0.0070% |
| 2011 | #1,723 | 120 | 0.0068% |
| 2010 | #1,945 | 103 | 0.0058% |
| 2009 | #1,810 | 119 | 0.0065% |
| 2008 | #1,915 | 110 | 0.0058% |
| 2007 | #1,689 | 130 | 0.0068% |
| 2006 | #1,743 | 119 | 0.0063% |
| 2005 | #1,804 | 108 | 0.0058% |
| 2004 | #2,045 | 89 | 0.0048% |
| 2003 | #2,370 | 70 | 0.0038% |
| 2002 | #2,266 | 72 | 0.0040% |
| 2001 | #2,098 | 79 | 0.0044% |
| 2000 | #2,016 | 82 | 0.0045% |
| 1999 | #3,983 | 29 | 0.0016% |
| 1998 | #2,734 | 49 | 0.0028% |
| 1997 | #4,015 | 27 | 0.0016% |
| 1996 | #5,550 | 17 | 0.0010% |
| 1995 | #4,224 | 24 | 0.0014% |
| 1994 | #5,271 | 18 | 0.0010% |
| 1993 | #4,534 | 22 | 0.0012% |
| 1992 | #4,538 | 22 | 0.0012% |
| 1991 | #7,002 | 12 | 0.0006% |
| 1990 | #6,902 | 12 | 0.0006% |
| 1987 | #11,433 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1979 | #10,301 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| Year | Rank | Births | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | #12,275 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 2015 | #12,218 | 5 | 0.0003% |
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 Araya 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.
You are always looking for a chance to do your own thing, to be your own person, and to have things done your own way.
✦ Araya's Deeper Meaning & Tips for Parents Discover Araya's symbolic numbers and practical tips for choosing a name that complements your child's birth date.