Chaya
Chaya was given to 499 girls in 2025, #588 among girls’ names; 15,684 Americans have been recorded with it since 1947 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 15,400 Americans named Chaya and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (98% of everyone recorded); the median is 18 years old and half are between 9 and 31.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Chaya by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Chaya mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Chaya is “a female given name from Hebrew.” Its etymology gives the sense “living” (חַיָּה).
From Hebrew חַיָּה (ḥayyā, “living”).
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Chaya?
#588 among girls’ names, 2025
Chaya rose from #743 in 2015 to #588 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 0.21 to 0.31 per 1,000.
504 babies in 2024, the peak
Chaya peaked in 2024, when 504 girls were given it, #599 among girls’ names. The 499 births of 2025 are 99% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 499 | #588 | 0.31 |
| 2024 | 504 | #599 | 0.31 |
| 2023 | 494 | #602 | 0.31 |
| 2022 | 503 | #595 | 0.31 |
| 2021 | 461 | #646 | 0.28 |
| 2020 | 434 | #662 | 0.27 |
| 2019 | 443 | #660 | 0.26 |
| 2018 | 469 | #638 | 0.28 |
| 2017 | 422 | #691 | 0.24 |
| 2016 | 405 | #707 | 0.23 |
Every recorded year (79)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 379 | #743 | 0.21 |
| 2014 | 416 | #681 | 0.23 |
| 2013 | 405 | #698 | 0.23 |
| 2012 | 406 | #692 | 0.23 |
| 2011 | 393 | #709 | 0.22 |
| 2010 | 384 | #730 | 0.22 |
| 2009 | 402 | #721 | 0.22 |
| 2008 | 403 | #740 | 0.21 |
| 2007 | 409 | #715 | 0.21 |
| 2006 | 369 | #751 | 0.19 |
| 2005 | 373 | #726 | 0.20 |
| 2004 | 349 | #752 | 0.19 |
| 2003 | 321 | #771 | 0.18 |
| 2002 | 357 | #701 | 0.20 |
| 2001 | 290 | #810 | 0.16 |
| 2000 | 295 | #774 | 0.16 |
| 1999 | 259 | #831 | 0.15 |
| 1998 | 213 | #962 | 0.12 |
| 1997 | 221 | #907 | 0.13 |
| 1996 | 210 | #927 | 0.12 |
| 1995 | 217 | #874 | 0.12 |
| 1994 | 205 | #921 | 0.11 |
| 1993 | 229 | #847 | 0.13 |
| 1992 | 202 | #951 | 0.11 |
| 1991 | 238 | #841 | 0.13 |
| 1990 | 215 | #893 | 0.11 |
| 1989 | 232 | #815 | 0.13 |
| 1988 | 213 | #845 | 0.12 |
| 1987 | 144 | #1,064 | 0.08 |
| 1986 | 142 | #1,059 | 0.08 |
| 1985 | 130 | #1,110 | 0.08 |
| 1984 | 151 | #957 | 0.09 |
| 1983 | 147 | #988 | 0.09 |
| 1982 | 147 | #1,006 | 0.09 |
| 1981 | 166 | #902 | 0.10 |
| 1980 | 114 | #1,178 | 0.07 |
| 1979 | 116 | #1,145 | 0.07 |
| 1978 | 91 | #1,316 | 0.06 |
| 1977 | 97 | #1,241 | 0.06 |
| 1976 | 81 | #1,332 | 0.06 |
| 1975 | 103 | #1,129 | 0.07 |
| 1974 | 83 | #1,286 | 0.06 |
| 1973 | 57 | #1,607 | 0.04 |
| 1972 | 65 | #1,473 | 0.04 |
| 1971 | 49 | #1,808 | 0.03 |
| 1970 | 41 | #2,022 | 0.02 |
| 1969 | 36 | #2,109 | 0.02 |
| 1968 | 34 | #2,061 | 0.02 |
| 1967 | 35 | #1,981 | 0.02 |
| 1966 | 17 | #3,054 | 0.01 |
| 1965 | 22 | #2,611 | 0.01 |
| 1964 | 23 | #2,609 | 0.01 |
| 1963 | 34 | #2,022 | 0.02 |
| 1962 | 35 | #1,949 | 0.02 |
| 1961 | 27 | #2,304 | 0.01 |
| 1960 | 16 | #3,105 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 31 | #2,024 | 0.02 |
| 1958 | 26 | #2,217 | 0.01 |
| 1957 | 19 | #2,666 | 0.01 |
| 1956 | 28 | #2,060 | 0.01 |
| 1955 | 27 | #2,070 | 0.01 |
| 1954 | 21 | #2,389 | 0.01 |
| 1953 | 18 | #2,527 | 0.01 |
| 1952 | 17 | #2,591 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 11 | #3,311 | 0.01 |
| 1950 | 9 | #3,708 | 0.01 |
| 1949 | 10 | #3,414 | 0.01 |
| 1948 | 6 | #4,749 | under 0.01 |
| 1947 | 9 | #3,748 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Chaya a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Chaya has been given almost only to girls: 10 boys in 79 years of records.
Girls and boys named Chaya: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Chaya, and how old are they?
15,400 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 98% of the 15,684 Americans ever recorded as Chaya. The median Chaya alive today is 18 years old; half are between 9 and 31.
The 2020 Census counted 11,308 people named Chaya (11,252 women and girls, 56 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 12,680 born in the U.S. The Census count is 11% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 297 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 977 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 2,920 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 5,390 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 5,800 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Chaya born?
The states with the most babies named Chaya are New York, New Jersey and California, with 90% of its births recorded by state in 2025; New Jersey is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 271 | #42 | 9.8× |
| New Jersey | 145 | #45 | 5.8× |
| California | 13 | #1,667 | 0.2× |
| Pennsylvania | 12 | #771 | 0.2× |
| Florida | 10 | #1,346 | 0.3× |
| Ohio | 9 | #974 | 0.2× |
| Illinois | 6 | #1,279 | 0.3× |
| Maryland | 6 | #750 | 0.7× |
| Michigan | 5 | #1,255 | 0.1× |
Where Chaya is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Chaya is most over-represented in New York: since 1947 it was given 9.8 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Chaya with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 6 names spelled alike, given to 16,725 babies since 1880, Chaya is the most given (94% of them). In 2025 it was given to 499 of their 499 babies (100%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Chaya
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Chaya and names like it
- Compare Chaya and ChauBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sChaya peaked in 2024.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Chaya since 1910.
- Hebrew namesWiktionary’s origin for Chaya: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2024The year the most babies were named Chaya.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Chaya alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with CMost given first.