Alaia

Alaia meaning

Alaia is an international girl's name of Basque origin.

Happy, glad, cheerful; bright, lively

Also used to mean: joyful

Alaia is a Basque name. In Basque, alai means happy, glad and cheerful; the Elhuyar dictionary also gives bright and lively, of colours or music, and an older sense of vigorous or brave. With the Basque ending -a, Alaia can be read as "the cheerful one". It is a traditional-sounding name from the Basque Country of northern Spain and south-west France that is now given in the United States too. It is pronounced ah-LYE-uh, in three syllables. It is not related to the Arabic Aaliya, "high, exalted", though the two sound alike.

Source: Elhuyar Basque–English Dictionary, s.v. alai · entry alai · See the entry · checked 25 Oct 2026

References: Elhuyar Basque–English Dictionary, alai

Popularity abroad

• #117 United States, girls 2025 (down 5 from 112 in 2024)
  US Social Security Administration
• #279 England and Wales, girls 2025
  Office for National Statistics

Official birth registrations. India publishes no national name statistics.

Spellings

Alaia · Alaya

Related names

Also meaning joy

Also starting with Ala-

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