Alayjah
Feminine · “Hebrew Eliyahu”
Elijah does not die. He is taken up in a whirlwind in a chariot of fire, and Jewish tradition has expected him back ever since: a cup is poured for him at every Passover seder and a chair is set for him at every circumcision. He is the only major biblical figure whose story has no ending.
How old is the name Alayjah?
Alayjah first appears in US birth records in 1995 — 30 years ago. The typical Alayjah alive today was born around 2010, making them about 15 years old. About 800 people named Alayjah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Alayjah most popular?
Alayjah peaked in 2009, reaching #2966 nationally. Today it ranks #8860, 5,894 places below that high. See the whole 2009 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Eliyahu to Alayjah
The story of Alayjah
The expectation is built into the text. Malachi, the last book of the Hebrew prophets in the Christian ordering, ends with the promise that Elijah will be sent before the great and terrible day, and that he will turn the hearts of parents to children and children to parents. That single verse generated a tradition of enormous practical reach. At the Passover seder a cup of wine is poured for Elijah and the door is opened for him. At a circumcision a chair is designated as his. In rabbinic literature he appears repeatedly, arriving unrecognised, settling disputes, and testing people, and questions that cannot be resolved are set aside until Elijah comes. The Gospels ask whether John the Baptist is Elijah. A prophet who left without dying is available in a way a dead one is not, and Jewish practice has used that availability for two thousand years.
Meaning
Hebrew Eliyahu, my God is Yah
From Hebrew eli, my God, and yahu, a form of the divine name. Alayjah is an American formation blending Elijah with the Aaliyah family, and the ay spelling and terminal h belong to the latter. The prophet's departure without death in 2 Kings 2 is the basis of the tradition that he will return before the day of the Lord, stated at the end of Malachi. It peaks in 2009.
How the name formed
- Eliyahu
- Elijah
- Alayjah
Related forms: Elijah · Eliyahu · Ilyas
Pronouncing Alayjah
uh-LAY-zhah
Three syllables, stress on the second. uh-LY-jah, following Elijah, is also heard, and the ay spelling was chosen to prevent exactly that reading. Both circulate.
Nicknames for Alayjah
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1995
- Most girls named
- 200958 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2966reached in 2009
- Change vs 2024
- −26.7%11 in 2025, from 15
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Alayjah in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Elijah in English — related form
- Eliyahu in Hebrew — transliteration
- Ilyas in Arabic — same name
Alayjahs among us
people named Alayjah are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 146,115 born in 2025 was named Alayjah
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Alayjah
- #8860
- Alayjah on the 2025 chart
- #937
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Alayjah went to 11 girls in 2025, but Alaijah is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 23, which makes it the 937th most-given girls’ name of the year — 7,923 places above the chart.
- Alaijah12
- Alayjah11
About 1 girl in 69,881 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 146,115 for Alayjah itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Christia test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Alayjah's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Christia climbed just as high around 1975, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Christia's path sketches the road Alayjah is walking now.
Alayjah sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Alayjah beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Alayjah in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The Hebrew meaning is settled and the prophet is a major figure in three traditions.
- Several natural short forms are available.
- The rhythm matches its cohort.
- Two pronunciations circulate for this spelling.
- Elijah and Aaliyah are both far more common.
- It will be spelled out letter by letter for life.
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Alayjah
Feminine · #8860 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Alayjahs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Alayjah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Alayjah?
- Alayjah is one of 2 recorded spellings. Alaijah is the more common one — 12 births in 2025 against 11 for Alayjah.
- How popular is the name Alayjah in 2025?
- Alayjah ranks #8860 among US girl names in 2025, with 11 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Alayjah?
- About 1 in every 146,115 US girls born in 2025 was named Alayjah — 11 in all.
- Will my child share the name Alayjah with classmates?
- Alayjah will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Alayjah
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Lida#8860 · Lauretta#8860 · Dot#8860 · Bonita#8860 · Benita#8860 · Trixie#8860 · Adna#8860 · Sue#8860
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Alayjah? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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