Alaia
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Meaning
In its Basque use, "joyful, happy", from alai.
The story
In Basque, alai is a word for being happy or cheerful. It can describe a grandmother or the atmosphere in a village square; in its Basque use, Alaia brings that everyday word into a person's name. There is a particularly fitting place to hear it: among the voices of bertsolaritza, the Basque art of improvised verse. A bertsolari creates and performs bertsos before an audience. An Etxepare Institute booklet shows Alaia Martin singing at a summer session in Tolosa, Gipuzkoa. The caption gives us a real performer and a real place, while the tradition supplies the movement: words being composed for the moment in which they are sung. The connection is language at work, from an adjective in ordinary conversation to a name carried by someone who makes verse aloud.
How popular is Alaia around the world?
In the United States, 13,651 babies were named Alaia between 2020 and 2025. In Puerto Rico, 57 babies were named Alaia in 2025, and 853 have carried the name since 1998.
Alaia is on the official records of the United States, Puerto Rico, Argentina, Spain, Mexico City, Chile, Canada, England and Wales, New Zealand, Scotland, Montevideo, Austria, France, Poland and Brazil.
Alaia crosses languages: it is in the latest top 300 of an English-speaking birth record and of a Spanish-speaking one. The full list: English and Spanish
United States
1 in 1,600
In the United States, 13,651 babies were named Alaia between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Alaia peaked in the 2020s. Alaia went to 429 US babies in 2015 and 2,324 in 2025, 5.4 times as many.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Puerto Rico
1 in 320
In Puerto Rico, 57 babies were named Alaia in 2025, and 853 have carried the name since 1998.
share of that year’s births on record
First given name only, from Social Security records of births in Puerto Rico; any name-sex-year under 5 births is withheld at source. Shares divide by the Puerto Rico Demographic Registry’s count of births on the island; the 2025 count is provisional. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, territory name file (Puerto Rico)
Argentina
1 in 400
In Argentina, 1,639 newborns were given the name Alaia in 2024.
share of that year’s name registrations
Given-name components of births in Argentina 2012–2024; national cells are lower bounds and no sex split is published. Source: RENAPER (Argentina), Dirección Nacional de Población, given names 2012-2024
Spain
#61 · 2024
In Spain, 3,357 residents are named Alaia, the 641st most common name among women, with a mean age of 7.4 years.
In Spain, Alaia was the 61st most common name among girls born in 2024.
Residents of Spain on 1 January 2025. Spain publishes how old a name’s living bearers are, not a birth series, so there is no year chart. Source: INE (Spain), Censo de Población anual, 1 January 2025
Mexico City City
1 in 1,400
In Mexico City, there were 87 registrations of Alaia in 2022.
share of that year’s registrations in the city
Civil-registry acts in Mexico City by registration year. Counts are lower bounds (names under 6 in a month and borough are removed at source) and count name-instances, not people; compound names are split, so “Maria Jose” counts under each part. 2023 (4 registrations through 3 Mar) is excluded as partial. Source: Registro Civil of Mexico City, open data portal, registered given names 2000-2023
Chile
1 in 1,700
In Chile, 105 girls were registered as Alaia in 2021, every accent spelling counted together.
share of that year’s name registrations
First-name registrations with Chile’s civil registry by year of registration, 1920–2021, counted as spelling groups (Sofía, Sofia and Sofìa are one name, shown with its most-registered spelling); the registry withholds nothing, nametree keeps the groups that reached 5 registrations in some year, and shares divide by every registration of the year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil e Identificación (Chile) via the guaguas package, first-name registrations 1920-2021
Canada
1 in 3,300
In Canada, 111 girls named Alaia were born in 2024, the 268th most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
England and Wales
1 in 3,600
In England and Wales, 163 girls named Alaia were born in 2025, the 279th most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
New Zealand
1 in 3,600
In New Zealand, 16 girls named Alaia were registered in 2025.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from New Zealand birth registrations, grouped by registration year; any name under 10 in a year is excluded at source. Shares divide by Stats NZ’s count of births registered to mothers living in New Zealand, under 1% below the registry’s own count. Source: Department of Internal Affairs (New Zealand), baby name popularity over time
Scotland
1 in 4,600
In Scotland, 10 girls named Alaia were registered in 2024, the 333rd most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Births registered in Scotland; different spellings count separately but accents are merged at source, and any spelling under 3 in total is suppressed. Source: National Records of Scotland, babies' first names
Montevideo City
1 in 12,0002011
In Montevideo, 2 girls named Alaia were born in 2011, spelling variants counted together.
The count never rose above 2 in a year, too few to chart.
Births in the department of Montevideo (not all of Uruguay) by first name and year of birth, 1940–2011, from the city’s civil registry, which writes names in capitals, almost always without accents; counted as spelling groups (accent and punctuation variants merged), nothing is withheld at source, and 2012 is excluded as a partial year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil, Intendencia de Montevideo, Partidas de Registro Civil de Montevideo (Licencia de Datos Abiertos - Uruguay); 2012 dropped as partial
Austria
1 in 15,000
In Austria, 5 girls named Alaia were born in 2025, the 742nd most common name among girls that year, spellings that differ only by special characters counted together.
The count never rose above 5 in a year, too few to chart.
Live births in Austria by year of birth, 1984–2025, from Statistik Austria’s first-name statistics; spellings that differ only by special characters are counted together (umlauts stay apart), every name down to a single birth is published, and the count covers babies with Austrian citizenship only until 2009, every baby from 2010, and from 2015 also births abroad to mothers living in Austria. Shares divide by Statistik Austria’s count of live births from 2010, and before that by the file’s own total for the year. Source: Statistik Austria - data.statistik.gv.at (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1, updated 2026-07-09)
France
1 in 43,000
In France, about 15 girls named Alaia were born in 2025, ranked 1,818th among girls that year.
share of that year’s births on record
Births in France by year of birth, from INSEE’s fichier des prénoms (1900–2025; Mayotte from 2012); exact spellings count separately (Léo and Leo are different names), any spelling under 3 in a year and sex is withheld at source, every count is rounded to the nearest 5 at source, and nametree keeps the spellings that reached 20 in some year. Shares divide by INSEE’s count of births in France from 1957, and before that by the file’s own total for the year; INSEE says the file is not complete before 1946. This registry counts each spelling separately; the figures above are for the exact spelling Alaia, and accented spellings are separate names. Source: Insee, fichier des prénoms (last updated 2026-07-16)
Poland
1 in 120,000
In Poland, 2 girls named Alaia were born in 2025, the 706th most common name among girls that year.
The count never rose above 2 in a year, too few to chart.
First names given to children born in Poland by year of birth, 2000–2025, from the PESEL population register (Ministry of Digital Affairs); exact spellings count separately (Łukasz and Lukasz are different names), names given fewer than 5 times in a year were left off the list through 2012 and fewer than 2 times from 2013, and the register also counts children born abroad, so its yearly sums run above Poland’s live births. Shares divide by the register’s own published total for the year, never by births. Source: Ministry of Digital Affairs, PESEL register (dane.gov.pl)
Brazil
At the 2022 census, 84 people in Brazil were named Alaia, ranked 46,608th, with a median age of 3.
Among people named Alaia living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2010s than in any other decade.
people alive at the 2022 census, by decade of birth
The census also counted 45 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart. People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
Ireland
last on record 2024
Alaia is not on the 2025 record for Ireland, where names under 3 in a year are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 8 in a year, too few to chart.
Exact registered spellings from Irish vital statistics; any name under 3 in a year is withheld at source, and accented spellings (fadas) are recorded reliably only from 2018. This registry counts each spelling separately; the figures above are for the exact spelling Alaia, and accented spellings are separate names. Source: Central Statistics Office (Ireland), Irish babies' names
South Australia
last on record 2013
Alaia is not on the 2017 record for South Australia, whose registry publishes every name given that year.
The count never rose above 1 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
When you meet Alaia
Most people given the name Alaia in the United States are children or teenagers today. The name belongs to this generation.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
Keep exploring
Names like Alaia · Names that go with Alaia · Climbers and fallers
The Alaia deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Alaia truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Alaia fits with your family’s names and surname.
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