Alijah
Masculine
Alijah is given to both — 14,231 boys and 1,450 girls since 1880. See Alijah as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Alijah takes one of the oldest names in the Hebrew Bible and turns its opening vowel a quarter-step, so that it can be heard two ways at once: as Elijah, and as Ali. The sound is already familiar to almost every American ear — three syllables with the weight in the middle, ending in that soft -jah shared by Elijah, Azariah and Isaiah. On the page it looks new; in the mouth it is centuries old.
How old is the name Alijah?
Alijah first appears in US birth records in 1987 — 38 years ago. The typical Alijah is a kid of about 10 — this name's wave is very recent. About 14,000 people named Alijah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Alijah most popular?
Alijah peaked in 2021, reaching #408 nationally. Today it ranks #469, 61 places below that high. See the whole 2021 chart.
Where it comes from
From Eliyahu to Alijah
The story of Alijah
Eliyahu belongs to the prophet of the Books of Kings, who confronts King Ahab and is carried off in a whirlwind — one of the most dramatic figures in the Hebrew scriptures. The Greek translators wrote him as Elias, which is how he reached Latin, then most of Christian Europe; English settled on Elijah, and Puritan families in England and colonial America made it an everyday given name rather than a scriptural one. Alijah is an American reshaping of that name, and its rise here runs alongside Ali and Alija, the Arabic and Balkan names it also resembles. Its strength in Texas, California and Florida fits a spelling that sits comfortably in Christian, Jewish and Muslim families alike.
Meaningscholars disagree
Read through Elijah: Hebrew "my God is Yahweh"
Two roads meet at this spelling. Most often it is a respelling of Elijah, from Hebrew Eliyahu, "my God is Yahweh." It can also be read as an anglicized form of Alija, the Bosnian and Albanian form of Arabic Ali, "high, exalted." The spelling itself is recent enough that no single reading has been settled for it, and plenty of families choose it precisely because it holds both.
How the name formed
- Eliyahu
- Elias
- Elijah
- Alijah
Related forms: Elijah · Eliyahu · Elias · Ilyas · Élie · Alija
Pronouncing Alijah
uh-LY-juh
Said like Elijah, with the stress on the middle syllable. Because it begins with A, some readers try AL-ih-juh or ah-LEE-uh on first sight, so a quick correction is often part of introductions.
Nicknames for Alijah
High
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
- 1987
- Most boys named
- 2021762 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #408reached in 2021
- Change vs 2024
- −11.9%651 in 2025, from 739
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.
Alijah in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Elijah in English — spelling variant
- Eliyahu in Hebrew — transliteration
- Elias in Greek — related form
- Ilyas in Arabic — related form
- Élie in French — related form
- Alija in Bosnian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Alijahs among us
people named Alijah are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 2,624 born in 2025 was named Alijah
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Jamison test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Alijah's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jamison climbed just as high around 1973, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jamison's path sketches the road Alijah is walking now.
Alijah 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
Where Alijah is headed
Alijah should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Alijah beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Alijah in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Sounds completely familiar even to people seeing the spelling for the first time — the Elijah pattern does the work.
- Several ready-made short forms, including Ali and AJ, both already in real use as names on their own.
- Sits naturally in Hebrew, Christian and Muslim naming traditions, which few names manage at once.
- Recognizable relatives in most European languages and in Arabic: Elias, Élie, Ilyas, Alija.
- Distinctive on paper while staying easy to say aloud — most classmates will not share it.
- It will be autocorrected and rewritten as Elijah for life. Spelling it out will become routine, and forms, teachers and coffee cups will often get the E instead of the A.
- The first vowel is genuinely ambiguous on sight, so expect a mix of uh-LY-juh, AL-ih-juh and ah-LEE-uh until people are told.
- Nearly everyone carrying this spelling is young, so there is no adult generation of Alijahs to point to yet — an advantage or a blank, depending on what you want from a name.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Alijah to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Alijah? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Alijah
Masculine · #469 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Alijahs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 14,000 people named Alijah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Alijah in 2025?
- Alijah ranks #469 among US boy names in 2025, with 651 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Alijah?
- About 1 in every 2,624 US boys born in 2025 was named Alijah — 651 in all.
- Will my child share the name Alijah with classmates?
- Alijah will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Alijah
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Musa#469 · Fabian#468 · Kyson#471 · Kameron#466 · Azariah#472 · Quinn#466 · Ayaan#465 · Zayne#473
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Alijah? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Alijah and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Or jump into a head-to-head
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle