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Khaliah

Feminine

1976high 2017
#4172 in the U.S.given to only a few children a year
rare34 girls in 2025

Khaliah stands near two Arabic words — khalil, a close friend, and khaliyah, a beehive — and it may descend from neither.

How old is the name Khaliah?

Khaliah first appears in US birth records in 1976 — 49 years ago. The typical Khaliah alive today was born around 2006, making them about 19 years old. About 1,300 people named Khaliah are estimated to be alive in the US today.

When was the name Khaliah most popular?

Khaliah peaked in 1980, reaching #2749 nationally. Today it ranks #4172, 1,423 places below that high. See the whole 1980 chart.

Compare this nameMore “K” names

Lists built from the same records:

I

Where it comes from

Our story of Khaliah

Ours, offered as ours. Khalil is an unusually warm word: it names a friend of the closest sort, and the Qur'an uses it of Abraham — Khalil Allah, the friend of God, which is one of the more remarkable things a scripture says about a person. The feminine khalilah is the same thing. Khaliah sits near it. Whether an American family reached the spelling by that road is unrecorded, and the friend of God is a good neighbor to have.

Meaningscholars disagree

Not established

Arabic khalilah is a close woman friend, the feminine of khalil, which is the epithet given to Abraham as the friend of God. Arabic khaliyah is a beehive. The Kha- opening of American naming is a third possibility and none is established.

Pronouncing Khaliah

kuh-LY-ah

Three syllables with the stress in the middle. The kh is said as a plain k in English.

Nicknames for Khaliah

Moderate

KhaliThe front of the name
LiahTakes the ending
KikiA doubled sound-based form used in childhood
II

What the data says

The long climb, and where it stands now

GIRLS NAMED · 1976–202544220443419762025

US babies named Khaliah per year from 1976 to 2025
AVERAGE RANK BY DECADE#1#10#100#1000#27491970s2020s

The same years in position rather than babies

First recorded
1976
Most girls named
201744 — the highest on record
Peak rank
#2749reached in 1980
Change vs 2024
+54.5%34 in 2025, from 22
Khaliah sits in the rare tail. Its best year on record was 2017, with 44 girls. Today it is given to few enough children that it does not enter the ranked charts at all.

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.

Khaliah in other languages

The same name elsewhere

  • Khalilah in Arabic — related form
  • Kaliah in English — spelling variant

Strongest US states over the last decade: Florida, Texas, California.

Khaliahs among us

1,300

people named Khaliah are estimated to be alive in the US today

About 1 girl in 47,273 born in 2025 was named Khaliah

Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method

Spellings of Khaliah

#4172
Khaliah on the 2025 chart
#190
counting every spelling

The SSA counts spellings, not names. Khaliah went to 34 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 — 3,982 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 47,273 for Khaliah 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

III

Is it right for you

The Ladora test

Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Khaliah's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Ladora climbed just as high around 1931, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Ladora's path sketches the road Khaliah is walking now.

40%chance Khaliah will feel “very 2010s” by 2040
Khaliah, aligned on its peakLadora· peak 1931not yet written
#1#10#100#1000peak-20 yrs+60 yrsLadora · #11442Khaliah today
Khaliah today is about where Ladora stood in 1976 — 45 years past a #2750-sized peak. By 1991, Ladora had settled around #11442.
Ages quietlysteadyDates fast

Khaliah 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 Khaliah is headed

19762030

US babies named Khaliah per year, 1976 to 2025, with a projection to 2030

Khaliah is easing off slowly — about 18% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.

Cooling-18% by 2030projected around #4,695 in 2030

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.

Khaliah beside its neighbors

The names ranked closest to Khaliah in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.

Khaliahthis name34#4172Roseanna34#4172Elida34#4172Neila34#4172Savina34#4172

US girls given each name in 2025.

The trade-off

Practical strengths
  • Liah is a complete short form in current use.
  • Open vowels make it easy to say in most languages.
  • A genuinely warm Arabic word stands near it.
What to consider
  • The kh will be spelled out for her constantly, since American ears hear a plain k.
  • Khaliah, Kaliah and Khalia are all in use and none is dominant.
  • There is no documented meaning for this spelling.

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Khaliah

Feminine · #4172 in the U.S.

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Frequently asked

How many Khaliahs are there in the world?
No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,300 people named Khaliah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
How do you spell Khaliah?
Khaliah is one of 8 recorded spellings. Kaliyah is the more common one — 791 births in 2025 against 34 for Khaliah.
How popular is the name Khaliah in 2025?
Khaliah ranks #4172 among US girl names in 2025, with 34 babies given the name.
How rare is the name Khaliah?
About 1 in every 47,273 US girls born in 2025 was named Khaliah — 34 in all.
Will my child share the name Khaliah with classmates?
Khaliah will almost certainly be the only one in school.

Ranked beside Khaliah

Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.

Roseanna#4172 · Elida#4172 · Neila#4172 · Savina#4172 · Kendyl#4172 · Zakiya#4172 · Naisha#4172 · Ethel#4172

Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Khaliah? See the current top 100.

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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology

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