Naja
Feminine · “A boy's younger sister”
Naja is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 1,275 girls against 6 boys since 1880.
Naja is the scientific name of the cobra and an ordinary girl's name in Greenland, and the two have nothing to do with each other. The Greenlandic one is the more interesting: it does not mean sister in general but a specific kind of sister, the one a boy has and a girl does not.
How old is the name Naja?
Naja first appears in US birth records in 1964 — 61 years ago. The typical Naja alive today was born around 1998, making them about 27 years old. About 1,300 people named Naja are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Naja most popular?
Naja peaked in 1998, reaching #1219 nationally. See the whole 1998 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From naga to Naja
The story of Naja
The cobra took the name in the eighteenth century, when European naturalists were latinizing words from every language they could reach for their new system of classification. Naja comes through Portuguese from the Sanskrit naga, a snake and in particular the great hooded snake of Indian art and religion, and it became the formal genus name for cobras worldwide. Meanwhile in Greenland the word had been in ordinary use as a name for as long as anybody knows, alongside a whole set of kinship terms that specify the sex of the speaker as well as the relative: a system that packs into one word what English needs a sentence for. The American record holds the spelling for children of both sexes, which is what happens to a short name arriving from more than one direction at once.
Meaningscholars disagree
A boy's younger sister
In Greenlandic the word is a kinship term of a kind English lacks entirely: it names the relationship from the point of view of the person speaking, so that a girl is her brother's naja and is something else to her sister. Many languages divide kinship this finely and English does not, which is why the word cannot be translated in fewer than several words. Whether an American Naja comes from that source is another question and usually not answerable.
How the name formed
- naga
- Naja
Related forms: Naja · Naja · Naga
Pronouncing Naja
NAH-yuh
Two syllables. In Greenlandic and Danish the j is a y, giving NAH-yuh; American families more often say NAH-juh or NAY-juh with an English j. All three are in use and the spelling supports each of them.
Nicknames for Naja
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
- 1964
- Most girls named
- 1998150 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1219reached in 1998
- Change vs 2022
- −22.2%7 in 2023, from 9
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.
Naja in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Naja in Greenlandic — same name
- Naja in Danish — same name
- Naga in Sanskrit — related form
Najas among us
people named Naja are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Naja sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Four letters, easy to write, and short enough that it never gets shortened.
- It is a real and current name in Greenland and Denmark, not an invention.
- It works for a child of either sex, which the record confirms.
- The record carries this spelling for boys and girls both, so it signals nothing on a form.
- Three live pronunciations and no way for the spelling to choose between them.
- The genus of cobras carries the same name, and anyone who looks it up will find that first.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Naja to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Naja? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Naja
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Najas 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 Naja are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Naja in 2025?
- Naja is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Naja with classmates?
- Naja will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More N names
The most-given names starting with N, all years combined.
Nancy#965 · Nicole#382 · Natalie#89 · Norma#2002 · Nora#20 · Naomi#47 · Nellie#533 · Nina#324
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Naja? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Naja and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle