Caia
Feminine
Caia is the feminine of Gaius — a Roman first name whose meaning was already lost in antiquity.
How old is the name Caia?
Caia first appears in US birth records in 1979 — 46 years ago. The typical Caia is a kid of about 7 — this name's wave is very recent. About 1,200 people named Caia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Caia most popular?
Caia peaked in 2024, reaching #2134 nationally. Today it ranks #2691, 557 places below that high. See the whole 2024 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Gaius to Caia
The story of Caia
Roman marriage ritual had the bride say ubi tu Gaius, ego Gaia — where you are Gaius, I am Gaia — using the name as a stand-in for anyone at all, which shows how ordinary it was. Its meaning was lost even then. Caia appears in American records in current use.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
From the Latin Gaia or Caia, feminine of Gaius, whose meaning is genuinely unrecovered — a derivation from gaudere, 'to rejoice', is proposed without support. The Greek Gaia, the earth goddess, is a separate word. Neither is established.
How the name formed
- Gaius
- Caia
Related forms: Gaia · Caia · Γαῖα
Pronouncing Caia
KY-ah
Two syllables, stress on the first. Some bearers say KAY-ah instead.
Nicknames for Caia
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
- 1979
- Most girls named
- 202389 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2134reached in 2024
- Change vs 2024
- −28.1%64 in 2025, from 89
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.
Caia in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Gaia in Latin — related form
- Caia in Italian — same name
- Γαῖα in Greek — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Caias among us
people named Caia are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 25,114 born in 2025 was named Caia
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Caia
- #2691
- Caia on the 2025 chart
- #129
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Caia went to 64 girls in 2025, but Kaia, Kaiya and Kaya and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 11 spellings went to 2,288, which makes it the 129th most-given girls’ name of the year — 2,562 places above the chart.
and 3 rarer spellings.
About 1 girl in 702 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 25,114 for Caia 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 Shirelle test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Caia's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Shirelle climbed just as high around 1969, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Shirelle's path sketches the road Caia is walking now.
Caia 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 Caia is headed
Caia should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium 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.
Caia beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Caia in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- That the Roman marriage formula used it as a stand-in for anyone is a first-rate fact.
- Cai and Kaia are two short forms, both real names elsewhere.
- Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk once heard.
- The meaning was already lost in antiquity.
- The Greek earth goddess Gaia is a separate word.
- The pronunciation splits between two readings.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Caia
Feminine · #2691 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Caias are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,200 people named Caia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Caia?
- Caia is one of 8 recorded spellings. Kaia is the more common one — 1,618 births in 2025 against 64 for Caia.
- How popular is the name Caia in 2025?
- Caia ranks #2691 among US girl names in 2025, with 64 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Caia?
- About 1 in every 25,114 US girls born in 2025 was named Caia — 64 in all.
- Will my child share the name Caia with classmates?
- Caia will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Caia
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Maricela#2691 · Zulema#2691 · Layana#2691 · Meher#2691 · Cyra#2691 · Aeris#2691 · Adelyne#2691 · Annmarie#2691
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Caia? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Caia and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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