Kaija
Feminine · “Not established”
Katherine's famous meaning is a mistake that changed the spelling. The Greek original is Aikaterine, whose sense is unknown; medieval scholars linked it to katharos, pure, and inserted a th to match — so the name was respelled to fit an etymology it does not have.
How old is the name Kaija?
Kaija first appears in US birth records in 1967 — 58 years ago. The typical Kaija alive today was born around 2003, making them about 22 years old. About 1,000 people named Kaija are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kaija most popular?
Kaija peaked in 2001, reaching #2963 nationally. Today it ranks #7491, 4,528 places below that high. See the whole 2001 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Aikaterine to Kaija
The story of Kaija
Etymological respelling — changing a word's spelling to display an origin someone believes it has — is a recurring habit of learned writers, and it often changes the pronunciation afterwards. Katherine gained its th from katharos. Antony gained its h from a supposed link to Greek anthos, a flower, and English speakers now pronounce the th. English debt gained its b from Latin debitum after being spelled dette for centuries, and island gained its s from a false link to isle. In each case the letter came first from a theory and then became part of the word. Kaija, the Finnish form, escaped the whole process by being shortened before the theory arrived; the American figures peak in 2001.
Meaningnot established
Not established — a Greek name of unrecovered origin
Aikaterine has no secure derivation. The association with katharos, pure, is a learned folk etymology of the medieval period, and it is what produced the th in Katherine and Catherine; the earliest Greek and Latin forms have a plain t. Kaija is the Finnish familiar form of Katariina, which is the Finnish form of the same name. Kaija is separately a Finnish word for a gull.
How the name formed
- Aikaterine
- Katariina
- Kaija
Related forms: Kaija · Katariina · Katherine
Pronouncing Kaija
KY-yah
Two syllables, stress on the first. The Finnish j is a y sound, not an English j, so the name is KY-yah rather than KAY-jah. Finnish always stresses the first syllable.
Nicknames for Kaija
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
- 1967
- Most girls named
- 200249 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2963reached in 2001
- Change vs 2024
- −22.2%14 in 2025, from 18
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.
Kaija in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kaija in Finnish — same name
- Katariina in Finnish — related form
- Katherine in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas.
Kaijas among us
people named Kaija are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 114,805 born in 2025 was named Kaija
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kaija
- #7491
- Kaija on the 2025 chart
- #941
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kaija went to 14 girls in 2025, but Kaijah is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 19, which makes it the 941st most-given girls’ name of the year — 6,550 places above the chart.
- Kaija14
- Kaijah5
About 1 girl in 84,593 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 114,805 for Kaija 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 Meredyth test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kaija's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Meredyth climbed just as high around 1940, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Meredyth's path sketches the road Kaija is walking now.
Kaija 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
Kaija beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kaija in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is short, two syllables and easy to say once the j is explained.
- Kai is an immediate short form that works for either sex.
- It is fully established in Finland rather than invented.
- English speakers read the j as an English j and say KAY-jah.
- The meaning of the underlying name is genuinely unknown.
- It is rare in America and will need spelling out every time.
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Kaija
Feminine · #7491 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kaijas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Kaija are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kaija?
- Kaija is the most-used spelling in US records — 14 of the 19 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Kaijah.
- How popular is the name Kaija in 2025?
- Kaija ranks #7491 among US girl names in 2025, with 14 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kaija?
- About 1 in every 114,805 US girls born in 2025 was named Kaija — 14 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kaija with classmates?
- Kaija will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kaija
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Christie#7491 · Carmelita#7491 · Jetta#7491 · Hildegard#7491 · Rickie#7491 · Billy#7491 · Angelyn#7491 · Jewell#7491
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kaija? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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