Roya
Feminine · “dream”
Roya is a dream or a vision in Persian — the thing seen while asleep, from a verb meaning to see.
How old is the name Roya?
Roya first appears in US birth records in 1955 — 70 years ago. The typical Roya alive today was born around 2005, making them about 20 years old. About 1,600 people named Roya are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Roya most popular?
Roya peaked in 2025, reaching #2368 nationally. Today it ranks #2368, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Where it comes from
From ra'a to Roya
The story of Roya
Ru'ya in Arabic names both an ordinary dream and a prophetic vision, and the root behind it means simply to see — the same root that gives the word for a mirror. Persian took it as roya. It is standard in Iranian naming and appears in American records in current use.
Meaning
dream, vision
From the Persian ro'ya, 'dream' or 'vision', borrowed from the Arabic ru'ya, from ra'a, 'to see'. The same Arabic root gives mir'ah, 'mirror'. The Persian is ordinary and the reading undisputed.
How the name formed
- ra'a
- ru'ya
- Roya
Related forms: رویا · رؤيا · Roia
Pronouncing Roya
ROY-ah
Two syllables, stress on the first. Persian says roh-YAH with the stress at the end.
Nicknames for Roya
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
- 1955
- Most girls named
- 202576 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2368reached in 2025
- Change vs 2024
- +22.6%76 in 2025, from 62
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.
Roya in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- رویا in Persian — transliteration
- رؤيا in Arabic — related form
- Roia in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Florida.
Royas among us
people named Roya are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 21,148 born in 2025 was named Roya
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 Anela test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Roya's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Anela climbed just as high around 2003, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Anela's path sketches the road Roya is walking now.
Roya 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 Roya is headed
Roya looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 16% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
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.
Roya beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Roya in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- That the root gives both 'dream' and 'mirror' is a first-rate etymology.
- The dream meaning is concrete and attractive.
- Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk in English.
- Persian and English stress it differently.
- It reads as specifically Iranian.
- It will need spelling out every time.
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What they receive
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Roya
Feminine · #2368 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Royas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,600 people named Roya are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Roya in 2025?
- Roya ranks #2368 among US girl names in 2025, with 76 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Roya?
- About 1 in every 21,148 US girls born in 2025 was named Roya — 76 in all.
- Will my child share the name Roya with classmates?
- Roya will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Roya
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Eevee#2368 · Sinai#2368 · Jaziyah#2368 · Mariama#2368 · Lela#2368 · Weslynn#2368 · Taya#2368 · Ramsey#2368
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Roya? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Roya and another name?
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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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