Kaija
Kaija was given to 14 girls in 2025, #7,661 among girls’ names; 1,028 Americans have been recorded with it since 1967 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,010 Americans named Kaija and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (99% of everyone recorded); the median is 23 years old and half are between 14 and 30.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Kaija by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Kaija mean?
Wiktionary, Finnish section
Kaija is “a female given name” Its etymology gives the sense “Catherine” (Katariina).
From a diminutive or vernacular form of Katariina (“Catherine”) (compare Maija). Cognate with Estonian Kaia.
/ˈkɑi̯jɑ/
Meaning: Wiktionary, Finnish section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Kaija?
#7,661 among girls’ names, 2025
Kaija fell from #7,112 in 2015 to #7,661 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 9.5 to 8.7 per million.
49 babies in 2002, the peak
Kaija peaked in 2002, when 49 girls were given it, #2,989 among girls’ names. The 14 births of 2025 are 29% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 14 | #7,661 | 8.7 |
| 2024 | 18 | #6,514 | 11.1 |
| 2023 | 27 | #4,925 | 16.8 |
| 2022 | 12 | #8,766 | 7.3 |
| 2021 | 12 | #8,708 | 7.3 |
| 2020 | 19 | #6,187 | 11.8 |
| 2019 | 26 | #5,092 | 15.5 |
| 2018 | 19 | #6,369 | 11.2 |
| 2017 | 18 | #6,661 | 10.4 |
| 2016 | 34 | #4,300 | 19.2 |
Every recorded year (52)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 17 | #7,112 | 9.5 |
| 2014 | 18 | #6,844 | 10.1 |
| 2013 | 14 | #8,335 | 8.0 |
| 2012 | 15 | #8,004 | 8.5 |
| 2011 | 19 | #6,708 | 10.8 |
| 2010 | 30 | #4,795 | 16.9 |
| 2009 | 28 | #5,151 | 15.2 |
| 2008 | 33 | #4,586 | 17.5 |
| 2007 | 42 | #3,820 | 21.8 |
| 2006 | 26 | #5,303 | 13.7 |
| 2005 | 35 | #4,061 | 18.9 |
| 2004 | 28 | #4,761 | 15.2 |
| 2003 | 36 | #3,836 | 19.7 |
| 2002 | 49 | #2,989 | 27.3 |
| 2001 | 48 | #2,981 | 26.7 |
| 2000 | 31 | #4,019 | 17.1 |
| 1999 | 30 | #3,916 | 16.9 |
| 1998 | 38 | #3,253 | 21.5 |
| 1997 | 30 | #3,750 | 17.2 |
| 1996 | 26 | #4,110 | 14.8 |
| 1995 | 23 | #4,411 | 13.1 |
| 1994 | 22 | #4,598 | 12.3 |
| 1993 | 23 | #4,445 | 12.7 |
| 1992 | 14 | #6,450 | 7.6 |
| 1991 | 17 | #5,516 | 9.1 |
| 1990 | 11 | #7,550 | 5.8 |
| 1989 | 15 | #5,664 | 8.1 |
| 1988 | 12 | #6,442 | 6.7 |
| 1987 | 7 | #9,225 | 4.0 |
| 1986 | 5 | #11,728 | 2.9 |
| 1985 | 7 | #8,723 | 4.1 |
| 1984 | 8 | #7,703 | 4.8 |
| 1983 | 5 | #10,999 | 3.0 |
| 1982 | 10 | #6,565 | 5.9 |
| 1980 | 8 | #7,719 | 4.8 |
| 1978 | 6 | #9,010 | 3.9 |
| 1977 | 7 | #7,893 | 4.6 |
| 1976 | 8 | #6,892 | 5.5 |
| 1975 | 9 | #6,164 | 6.2 |
| 1973 | 9 | #5,761 | 6.2 |
| 1971 | 5 | #8,869 | 3.0 |
| 1967 | 5 | #7,250 | 3.0 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Kaija a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Kaija has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 52 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Kaija: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Kaija, and how old are they?
1,010 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 99% of the 1,028 Americans ever recorded as Kaija. The median Kaija alive today is 23 years old; half are between 14 and 30.
The 2020 Census counted 928 people named Kaija (910 women and girls, 18 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 919 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 54 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 200 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 512 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 246 |
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).
Names spelled alike
Of these 4 names spelled alike, given to 1,965 babies since 1880, Kaija is the most given (52% of them). In 2025 it was given to 14 of their 35 babies (40%), the second most given that year.
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 Kaija
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 Kaija and names like it
- Compare Kaija and KajaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sKaija peaked in 2002.
- Minnesota’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Kaija since 1910.
- Finnish namesWiktionary’s origin for Kaija: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2002The year the most babies were named Kaija.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Kaija alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with KMost given first.