Alia
Of Arabic origin, meaning "exalted" or "lofty", signifying one of high rank.
Name Census estimates that about 13,207 living Americans carry the first name Alia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Alia today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Alia births was 2019 (555 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Alia. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Alia with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
13K
~ 1 in 25,952 Americans
Peak year
2019
555 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#559
Tracked since 1915
Census
Alia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 12,619 people with the first name Alia, which placed it at #2,125 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#2,125
National first-name rank
People counted
13K
12,619 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
38.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Alia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alia is White at 38.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (26.8%) and Black (15.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Alia described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Alia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White38.6% · 4,868
- Hispanic or Latino26.8% · 3,380
- Black or African American15.0% · 1,896
- Asian and Pacific Islander10.6% · 1,335
- Two or more races8.5% · 1,076
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 64
Popularity
Alia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Alia from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 4,280 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Alia remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Alia by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Alia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Alias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 37 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Alia, while New Mexico, Idaho, Arkansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 292 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Alia
The name Alia is derived from the Arabic word 'Ali', which means 'lofty' or 'sublime'. It has its roots in the Arabic language and Islamic culture, and is believed to have originated in the Middle East during the spread of Islam in the 7th century.
One of the earliest and most notable references to the name Alia can be found in the Quran, the holy book of Islam. It is mentioned as a variation of the name Ali, which was the name of the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad. Ali played a significant role in the establishment and spread of Islam, and is revered as one of the most important figures in Islamic history.
The name Alia gained popularity among Muslims and was used across various regions of the Middle East and North Africa. It was particularly common in countries like Egypt, Syria, and Morocco. Over the centuries, the name has also been adopted by non-Muslim communities in these regions, as well as in other parts of the world.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Alia can be found in the 9th century, when Princess Alia bint Al-Mahdi, the daughter of the Abbasid caliph Al-Mahdi, was born in Baghdad. She was a renowned poet and scholar, and her work contributed significantly to the literary and intellectual culture of the time.
Another notable figure in history with the name Alia was Alia Al-Mahdi (1059-1121), a Fatimid princess and scholar from Egypt. She was known for her expertise in various fields, including mathematics, astronomy, and Islamic jurisprudence, and played a crucial role in the intellectual and cultural life of the Fatimid Caliphate.
In the 12th century, Alia Muhammed, a Sufi mystic and poet from Iran, gained recognition for her spiritual teachings and her contribution to Persian literature. Her works explored themes of love, devotion, and the mystical path towards union with the divine.
During the Ottoman Empire, Alia Mustafa Pasha (1541-1587) was a prominent military leader and statesman. He served as the Grand Vizier, the highest-ranking political advisor to the Sultan, and played a key role in the expansion and governance of the Ottoman territories.
In more recent history, Alia Shawkat (born in 1989) is an American actress and artist of Iraqi descent. She is best known for her roles in popular TV shows like Arrested Development and Search Party, and has received critical acclaim for her performances.
People
Alia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Alia as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Alia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Alia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 13,207 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Alia going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 25,952 US residents.
Is Alia a common name?
We classify Alia as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 13,526 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Alia most popular?
The single biggest year for Alia was 2019, when 555 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Alia is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Alia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 12,619 people with the name Alia, or 4.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,125 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Alia in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Alia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Alia appears almost entirely female. Of the 12,618 people counted with this name, 99.4% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Alia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Alia is White at 38.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (26.8%) and Black (15.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Alia most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Alia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 38.6% (4,868 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Alia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Alia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Alia in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Alia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Alia in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Alia can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people share the name Alia?
Want to know how many Americans are named Alia? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.