Maija
Maija was given to 8 girls in 2025, #11,534 among girls’ names; 1,189 Americans have been recorded with it since 1952 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,150 Americans named Maija and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (97% of everyone recorded); the median is 27 years old and half are between 18 and 41.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Maija by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Maija mean?
Wiktionary, Finnish section
Maija is “a female given name”
Vernacular form of Maria. Cognate with Swedish Maja and Estonian Maia.
/ˈmɑi̯jɑ/
Meaning: Wiktionary, Finnish section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Maija?
#11,534 among girls’ names, 2025
Maija fell from #9,901 in 2015 to #11,534 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 6.2 to 5.0 per million.
59 babies in 1999, the peak
Maija peaked in 1999, when 59 girls were given it, #2,455 among girls’ names. The 8 births of 2025 are 14% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 8 | #11,534 | 5.0 |
| 2024 | 9 | #10,774 | 5.6 |
| 2023 | 16 | #7,124 | 10.0 |
| 2022 | 10 | #10,133 | 6.1 |
| 2021 | 9 | #10,791 | 5.5 |
| 2020 | 10 | #9,998 | 6.2 |
| 2019 | 11 | #9,493 | 6.6 |
| 2018 | 19 | #6,415 | 11.2 |
| 2017 | 6 | #15,244 | 3.5 |
| 2016 | 15 | #7,845 | 8.5 |
Every recorded year (68)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 11 | #9,901 | 6.2 |
| 2014 | 16 | #7,514 | 9.0 |
| 2013 | 22 | #5,941 | 12.5 |
| 2012 | 25 | #5,500 | 14.2 |
| 2011 | 21 | #6,258 | 11.9 |
| 2010 | 18 | #7,099 | 10.1 |
| 2009 | 29 | #5,034 | 15.8 |
| 2008 | 36 | #4,324 | 19.0 |
| 2007 | 34 | #4,430 | 17.7 |
| 2006 | 29 | #4,905 | 15.3 |
| 2005 | 31 | #4,439 | 16.8 |
| 2004 | 34 | #4,144 | 18.5 |
| 2003 | 47 | #3,159 | 25.7 |
| 2002 | 24 | #5,012 | 13.4 |
| 2001 | 38 | #3,517 | 21.1 |
| 2000 | 33 | #3,839 | 18.2 |
| 1999 | 59 | #2,455 | 33.3 |
| 1998 | 34 | #3,537 | 19.2 |
| 1997 | 35 | #3,331 | 20.1 |
| 1996 | 21 | #4,821 | 12.0 |
| 1995 | 28 | #3,825 | 15.9 |
| 1994 | 19 | #5,147 | 10.6 |
| 1993 | 24 | #4,322 | 13.3 |
| 1992 | 14 | #6,514 | 7.6 |
| 1991 | 15 | #6,130 | 8.0 |
| 1990 | 8 | #9,794 | 4.2 |
| 1989 | 9 | #8,455 | 4.9 |
| 1988 | 19 | #4,581 | 10.7 |
| 1987 | 8 | #8,439 | 4.6 |
| 1986 | 13 | #5,630 | 7.6 |
| 1985 | 11 | #6,286 | 6.4 |
| 1984 | 15 | #4,878 | 8.9 |
| 1983 | 9 | #7,062 | 5.4 |
| 1982 | 16 | #4,638 | 9.4 |
| 1981 | 7 | #8,658 | 4.2 |
| 1980 | 17 | #4,437 | 10.2 |
| 1979 | 18 | #4,148 | 11.2 |
| 1978 | 14 | #4,826 | 9.1 |
| 1977 | 20 | #3,699 | 13.0 |
| 1976 | 21 | #3,361 | 14.3 |
| 1975 | 14 | #4,476 | 9.6 |
| 1974 | 7 | #7,348 | 4.8 |
| 1973 | 21 | #3,185 | 14.4 |
| 1972 | 17 | #3,650 | 11.2 |
| 1971 | 11 | #4,994 | 6.6 |
| 1970 | 13 | #4,392 | 7.4 |
| 1968 | 19 | #3,021 | 11.6 |
| 1967 | 7 | #5,801 | 4.2 |
| 1966 | 7 | #5,588 | 4.1 |
| 1965 | 8 | #5,109 | 4.5 |
| 1964 | 8 | #5,274 | 4.2 |
| 1963 | 6 | #6,302 | 3.1 |
| 1962 | 10 | #4,426 | 5.1 |
| 1961 | 5 | #7,161 | 2.5 |
| 1960 | 5 | #6,937 | 2.5 |
| 1958 | 5 | #6,654 | 2.5 |
| 1956 | 5 | #6,522 | 2.5 |
| 1952 | 6 | #5,289 | 3.2 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Maija a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Maija has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 68 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Maija: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Maija, and how old are they?
1,150 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 97% of the 1,189 Americans ever recorded as Maija. The median Maija alive today is 27 years old; half are between 18 and 41.
The 2020 Census counted 1,333 people named Maija (1,325 women and girls, 8 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,104 born in the U.S. The Census count is 21% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 42 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 200 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 230 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 521 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 161 |
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 2 names spelled alike, given to 3,238 babies since 1880, Maija is the second most given (37% of them). In 2025 it was given to 8 of their 48 babies (17%), again the second 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 Maija
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 Maija and names like it
- Compare Maija and MajaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1990sMaija peaked in 1999.
- Minnesota’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Maija since 1910.
- Finnish namesWiktionary’s origin for Maija: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1999The year the most babies were named Maija.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Maija alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with MMost given first.