Zaya
Feminine · “Fate”
Zaya is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 2,532 girls against 58 boys since 1880.
Zaya is two open syllables with a Z in front — the same easy shape as Maya and Zara, built on a letter only a handful of English names begin with. It is a real word for destiny in Mongolian, a name long carried in Assyrian Christian families, and a sound that fits comfortably into American English without needing translation. Its American record is short and recent, which makes it one of those names still writing its own history.
How old is the name Zaya?
Zaya first appears in US birth records in 1994 — 31 years ago. The typical Zaya is a kid of about 7 — this name's wave is very recent. About 2,500 people named Zaya are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Zaya most popular?
Zaya peaked in 2023, reaching #1164 nationally. Today it ranks #1309, 145 places below that high. See the whole 2023 chart.
Zaya appears on this list:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Zaya
Zaya arrives in the United States from more than one direction at once, which is unusual and worth knowing. In Mongolia it is an ordinary word — destiny — pressed into service as a name, and it sits inside the older Buddhist name Zaya Pandita, borne by the Oirat monk who devised the Clear Script in the seventeenth century. Among Assyrian Christians, Zaia has been used for centuries after a saint of that name. In American records the name shows up only in the last few decades, in a period when short Z-names with open vowels were spreading generally, so a good share of them were made by ear rather than inherited.
Meaningscholars disagree
'Fate, destiny' in Mongolian — though that is only one of the roads into the name
Mongolian заяа (zaya) means fate or destiny, and it is used as a given name there. A separate line runs through Sanskrit jaya, 'victory,' which reached Mongolian and Tibetan Buddhist usage in names such as Zaya Pandita, the seventeenth-century Oirat scholar. Zaia is also an established Assyrian name. And many American Zayas were almost certainly built by sound, alongside Zara, Maya, Kaya and Zoya, with no meaning intended. All of these are genuine; which one belongs to a particular family depends on the family.
Pronouncing Zaya
ZAY-uh
ZAY-uh is the usual American reading. Mongolian and Assyrian speakers generally say ZAH-yah, with a fuller first vowel, and some American families keep that. Both are correct; pick one and say it first when you introduce her.
Nicknames for Zaya
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
- 1994
- Most girls named
- 2023207 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1164reached in 2023
- Change vs 2024
- +8.3%170 in 2025, from 157
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.
Zaya in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Заяа (Zaya) in Mongolian — transliteration
- Zaia in Assyrian Neo-Aramaic — spelling variant
- Jaya in Sanskrit / Hindi — related form
- Zoya in Russian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Zayas among us
people named Zaya are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 9,455 born in 2025 was named Zaya
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Zaya
- #1309
- Zaya on the 2025 chart
- #633
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Zaya went to 170 girls in 2025, but Zaia, Zayah and Zaiya and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 6 spellings went to 348, which makes it the 633rd most-given girls’ name of the year — 676 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 4,619 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 9,455 for Zaya 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 Daysha test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Zaya's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Daysha climbed just as high around 1996, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Daysha's path sketches the road Zaya is walking now.
Zaya 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 Zaya is headed
Zaya 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.
Zaya beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Zaya in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Short, two syllables, no silent letters — most English speakers get the spelling right from hearing it once.
- Works in Mongolian, Assyrian and English-speaking settings without being reshaped, which is rare in a name this short.
- Has a ready-made short form in Zay, plus room for household variations, without depending on one.
- Sits in the familiar Maya–Zara–Kaya sound family, so it is easy to hear and remember on first meeting.
- The first vowel is genuinely unsettled: ZAY-uh and ZAH-yah both have real backing. She will correct people occasionally, and it helps to decide early which one your family uses.
- Expect it to be heard as Zara, Zaria, Zoya or Maya over the phone, especially in noisy rooms. The spelling is simple once written down; getting there sometimes takes a repeat.
- The meaning depends on which root you claim. If you want to hand her one clear story about her name, you will be choosing among several true ones rather than reciting a settled fact.
- Its American history is short. That means little accumulated baggage, but also that nobody will have a ready association with it — she will be the one who defines it for most people she meets.
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What they receive
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Zaya
Feminine · #1309 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Zayas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,500 people named Zaya are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Zaya?
- Zaya is the most-used spelling in US records — 170 of the 348 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Zaia, Zayah, Zaiya, Zaiah and Zaiyah.
- How popular is the name Zaya in 2025?
- Zaya ranks #1309 among US girl names in 2025, with 170 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Zaya?
- About 1 in every 9,455 US girls born in 2025 was named Zaya — 170 in all.
- Will my child share the name Zaya with classmates?
- Zaya will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Zaya
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Emilie#1309 · Renley#1309 · Hollyn#1309 · Zaina#1309 · Chanel#1309 · Ansley#1309 · Aylah#1309 · Roxanne#1309
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Zaya? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Zaya and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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