# Chaya (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/chaya/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | girls |
| Origin | Hebrew |
| Meaning | “living” |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 15,684 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 10 / 15,674 (100% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 1,060, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

From Hebrew חַיָּה (ḥayyā, “living”).

## What it means

Chaya is grouped under life.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 393 | 709 |
| 2012 | 406 | 692 |
| 2013 | 405 | 698 |
| 2014 | 416 | 681 |
| 2015 | 379 | 743 |
| 2016 | 405 | 707 |
| 2017 | 422 | 691 |
| 2018 | 469 | 638 |
| 2019 | 443 | 660 |
| 2020 | 434 | 662 |
| 2021 | 461 | 646 |
| 2022 | 503 | 595 |
| 2023 | 494 | 602 |
| 2024 | 504 | 599 |
| 2025 | 499 | 588 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1981 | 5 | 6,435 |
| 1989 | 5 | 8,085 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 33 | 1,043 |
| 2012 | 39 | 934 |
| 2013 | 37 | 982 |
| 2014 | 36 | 1,005 |
| 2015 | 37 | 965 |
| 2016 | 41 | 897 |
| 2017 | 39 | 949 |
| 2018 | 30 | 1,136 |
| 2019 | 36 | 980 |
| 2020 | 45 | 807 |
| 2021 | 40 | 884 |
| 2022 | 31 | 1,081 |
| 2023 | 55 | 657 |
| 2024 | 55 | 686 |
| 2025 | 52 | 705 |

## People named Chaya

- Mayim Bialik, American actress, television personality, and author (born 1975)

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.