Khalia
Feminine
Khalia is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 3,572 girls against 7 boys since 1880.
Khalia is close to the Arabic khaliyah — a beehive, or one who is free of care — and it is also an American formation on the -alia ending.
How old is the name Khalia?
Khalia first appears in US birth records in 1976 — 49 years ago. The typical Khalia alive today was born around 2011, making them about 14 years old. About 3,500 people named Khalia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Khalia most popular?
Khalia peaked in 2019, reaching #1274 nationally. Today it ranks #1867, 593 places below that high. See the whole 2019 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Khalia
Our story of Khalia is a story of a sound with a possible Arabic parent. Khaliyah in Arabic names a beehive and, by the same root, a state of being free of something — a pleasant ambiguity. American naming, meanwhile, had -alia endings from Amalia and Natalia and a Kh- front from Khalil and Khadija. Khalia appears in the registers in the 1990s. Both doors were open, and the record does not say which any family used.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
No settled etymology. It may reflect the Arabic khaliyah, which names a beehive and also means 'free' or 'empty of'. It may be a coinage on the Kh- front and -alia ending, alongside Amalia and Natalia. Neither is documented for this spelling.
Pronouncing Khalia
kuh-LEE-uh
Three syllables, stress in the middle. The kh is flattened to k by English speakers.
Nicknames for Khalia
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
- 1976
- Most girls named
- 2019182 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1274reached in 2019
- Change vs 2024
- +1.0%106 in 2025, from 105
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.
Khalia in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- خلية in Arabic — related form
- Kalia in English — spelling variant
- Khaliah in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Khalias among us
people named Khalia are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 15,163 born in 2025 was named Khalia
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Khalia
- #1867
- Khalia on the 2025 chart
- #190
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Khalia went to 106 girls in 2025, but Kaliyah, Kalia and Calia and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 17 spellings went to 1,748, which makes it the 190th most-given girls’ name of the year — 1,677 places above the chart.
and 9 rarer spellings.
About 1 girl in 919 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 15,163 for Khalia 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 Connor test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Khalia's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Connor climbed just as high around 1992, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Connor's path sketches the road Khalia is walking now.
Khalia 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 Khalia is headed
Khalia 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.
Khalia beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Khalia in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The beehive-and-freedom ambiguity is a genuinely pleasant one where it holds.
- Kali and Lia are two short forms, both names in their own right.
- Three syllables of open vowels, which carries unusually well.
- There is no documented meaning for this spelling.
- The Arabic kh has no English equivalent.
- Kalia and Khaliah are both in use.
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What they receive
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Khalia
Feminine · #1867 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Khalias are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,500 people named Khalia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Khalia?
- Khalia is one of 8 recorded spellings. Kaliyah is the more common one — 791 births in 2025 against 106 for Khalia.
- How popular is the name Khalia in 2025?
- Khalia ranks #1867 among US girl names in 2025, with 106 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Khalia?
- About 1 in every 15,163 US girls born in 2025 was named Khalia — 106 in all.
- Will my child share the name Khalia with classmates?
- Khalia will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Khalia
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Emilee#1867 · Solei#1867 · Kacie#1867 · Nairobi#1867 · Karmen#1872 · Judy#1872 · Rio#1872 · Kasey#1872
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Khalia? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Khalia and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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