Raya
Meaning
big, great, grand (as in Hari Raya)
The story
Raya is a small name with passports from three directions: in Bulgarian and Russian nurseries it is the affectionate short of Rayna and Raisa; in Indonesian and Malay it is the word for great and grand, the one in Hari Raya, the festival day; in Hebrew it is ra'ya, friend, beloved, the word the Song of Songs uses. America mostly met it in March 2021, when Disney's Raya and the Last Dragon gave the name to a warrior princess of Kumandra, and the record turned on the spot: about 2,100 across the whole 2010s, then 4,260 already this decade, past double the full 2010s with years to run; name-watchers give the movie the credit outright. Underneath the surge the name stays what it was everywhere else, small, warm, and grand at once. Three languages agree on the sound; the child gets all three meanings.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Raya peaked in the 2020s.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
136 people · the #33,256 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 1,000,000 · median age 14
Among people named Raya living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2010s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 27 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Raya
Most people given the name Raya 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.
The Raya deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Raya 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 Raya fits with your family’s names and surname.
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