Naida
Feminine
A naiad is a freshwater nymph. Greek divided its water spirits carefully — nereids for the sea, oceanids for the great ocean, naiads for springs and streams and wells — and the word comes from a verb meaning to flow. Naida is that word with its final consonant gone, which turns a category of minor goddess into a name.
How old is the name Naida?
Naida first appears in US birth records in 1907 — 118 years ago. The typical Naida alive today was born around 1944, making them about 81 years old. About 900 people named Naida are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Naida most popular?
Naida peaked in 1932, reaching #1097 nationally. Today it ranks #13208, 12,111 places below that high. See the whole 1932 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From naias to Naida
The story of Naida
Greek religion populated every body of water with a resident spirit, and the naiads were the ones who mattered day to day — a spring that failed was a naiad who had left. The word entered English through classical scholarship and turns up in poetry from the seventeenth century onward. As a personal name it belongs to the American classical revival: Naida appears in the record from 1907 and peaked in the early 1930s, alongside Vesta, Zelma and a dozen other names taken straight from a Greek dictionary.
Meaningscholars disagree
a water nymph of springs and streams
The Greek naias is built on naein, to flow, and named the nymphs of fresh water specifically — each spring and stream had its own. Whether this name descends from the word or was built independently from a sound is not certain: Naida also resembles the Slavic Nada and the Arabic Nadia, and some American families arrived at it that way.
How the name formed
- naias
- Naiad
- Naida
Related forms: Naias · Nadya
Pronouncing Naida
NAY-duh
Two syllables, stress on the first. Some families say NYE-duh or nah-EE-duh, following the Greek more closely; the first version is much the commoner in America.
Nicknames for Naida
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
- 1907
- Most girls named
- 192740 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1097reached in 1932
- Change vs 2019
- −14.3%6 in 2025, from 7
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.
Naida in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Naias in Greek — related form
- Nadya in Russian — related form
Naidas among us
people named Naida are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 267,878 born in 2025 was named Naida
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 Madolyn test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Naida's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Madolyn climbed just as high around 1914, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Madolyn's path sketches the road Naida is walking now.
Naida 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
Naida beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Naida in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Five letters and two open syllables — easy in any accent.
- The Greek word behind it names something specific and rather charming.
- Ida is available as a short form and is a standing name across Europe.
- It is genuinely rare, so a child will not meet another.
- The first vowel is unsettled, so the name arrives two or three ways.
- Nadia, Naeda and Nayda all sit close by and will be written instead.
- It belongs to the early twentieth century and carries that flavor.
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What they receive
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Naida
Feminine · #13208 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Naidas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Naida are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Naida in 2025?
- Naida ranks #13208 among US girl names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Naida?
- About 1 in every 267,878 US girls born in 2025 was named Naida — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Naida with classmates?
- Naida will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Naida
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
John#13208 · Vinnie#13208 · Margery#13208 · Jossie#13208 · Tressa#13208 · Erie#13208 · Bernadine#13208 · Euna#13208
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Naida? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Naida and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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