Liyah
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "my God" or "God is mine".
Name Census estimates that about 2,136 living Americans carry the first name Liyah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Liyah today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Liyah births was 2005 (120 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Liyah. 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 Liyah with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Liyah is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 15 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
2.1K
~ 1 in 160,466 Americans
Peak year
2005
120 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,077
Tracked since 1994
Census
Liyah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,668 people with the first name Liyah, which placed it at #8,650 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
#8,650
National first-name rank
People counted
1.7K
1,668 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
52.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Liyah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Liyah is Black at 52.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (21.3%) and White (10.9%). 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 Liyah 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 Liyah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American52.4% · 874
- Hispanic or Latino21.3% · 356
- White10.9% · 182
- Two or more races8.5% · 142
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.9% · 81
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.0% · 33
Popularity
Liyah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Liyah from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 910 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Liyah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Liyah 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 Liyah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Liyahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 19 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Liyah, while South Carolina, Ohio, New Jersey recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 54 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Liyah
The name Liyah is a relatively modern variation of the Hebrew name Liah, which itself is a diminutive form of the name Leah. The name Leah is believed to be derived from the Hebrew word 'le'ah', meaning 'weary' or 'tired'. This name is found in the Old Testament of the Bible, where Leah was the first wife of Jacob and the mother of six of his sons.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Liyah can be traced back to the late 19th century, when it was used as a variant spelling of Leah among certain Jewish communities in Eastern Europe. However, it was not until the latter half of the 20th century that the name Liyah began to gain popularity as a distinct name in its own right.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who have borne the name Liyah or its variations. One such person was Liah Sofer (1884-1960), an Israeli author and playwright who played a significant role in the development of Hebrew literature and theatre in the early 20th century.
Another notable bearer of the name was Liah Greenfeld (1925-2018), an American sociologist and political scientist who made significant contributions to the study of nationalism and its origins. Her seminal work, "Nationalism: Five Roads to Modernity", published in 1992, is widely regarded as a classic in the field.
In the realm of music, Liyah Gardine (born 1977) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who has released several critically acclaimed albums and has collaborated with a variety of artists across different genres.
The name Liyah has also been borne by individuals in the arts and entertainment industry, such as Liyah Brit (born 1983), an American actress and model known for her roles in various television shows and films.
Another notable bearer of the name was Liyah Babayan (1875-1940), an Armenian-Russian revolutionary and activist who played a significant role in the struggle for women's rights and social justice in the early 20th century.
People
Liyah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Liyah as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with L
Other first names starting with L with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Liyah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Liyah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,136 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Liyah 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 160,466 US residents.
Is Liyah a common name?
We classify Liyah as "Rare". It ranks above 94% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,160 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Liyah most popular?
The single biggest year for Liyah was 2005, when 120 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Liyah is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Liyah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,668 people with the name Liyah, or 0.55 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,650 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 Liyah 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 Liyah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Liyah appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,667 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Liyah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Liyah is Black at 52.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (21.3%) and White (10.9%). 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 Liyah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Liyah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 52.4% (874 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 Liyah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Liyah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Liyah 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 Liyah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Liyah 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 Liyah 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 Americans are named Liyah?
See how many people share the name Liyah on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.