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Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Alaya


"On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me, six geese-a-laying"

The reason why I've picked Alaya would possibly be a source of teasing for this name too. I can just imagine  taunts of "hey Alaya, what 'cha layin'?" But I hate to look at potential problems before properly considering the beauty in a name first.

Alaya (pronounced ah-LAY-ah) is one of those names that when I first heard it a couple of years ago, I couldn't understand why I hadn't heard of it before that. It's very reminiscent of names like Layla and Ayla - it's soft and lilting and feminine. It's pronounced pretty much how it appears, which makes it easy for people to say and is a good choice if you yourself disliked having to explain how to say your name and want to avoid this for your child. And I do so like girl's names that start and end in A.

Some sources say that Alaya is a modern American invented name. But this doesn't seem to be the case, instead it is apparent that it it a variant of either Alaia or Aliya, or perhaps both. From these, Alaya has a few different origins and meanings. In Basque it means 'joyful', in Hebrew it means 'to ascend', in Arabic it means 'lofty, sublime' and in Swahili it means 'exalted'. Alaya has a similar meaning for Buddhists, as one of the eight consciousnesses. The alaya-vijnana is the base consciousness that the other seven evolve from. Taken together, it seems that if you are looking for a name relating to a higher point or power - as Kim Kardashian and Kanye reportedly were thinking when they chose North - Alaya would be a strong contender.

Alaya first appeared on the SSA charts in 1979, and made it's way into the U.S top 1000 in 2009. In 2012 it was #813, which puts it in that comfortable middle ground of not super obscure but not super common.

Alaya is a pretty, underused choice with some pretty inspirational meanings. It would make a lovely name for a girl, no matter the time of year.



18 comments:

  1. Yeahhhh my name is alaya!

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  2. My daughter who was born in Nov. 2008, her name is Alaya Simone!! It fits her because she is a happy, joyful little girl!

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  3. I named my baby girl alayah I always add an extra letter so it can be different

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  4. My baby girl was born 6/29/07.. her name is Alaya.. love it!!! The only problem is people will pronounce it Aliya... I'm like, noooo, just say it how it's written! Lol

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  5. My name is Lacey too, my daughters name is Alaya and she was born on June 26, 2004 !!

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  6. my name is Lacey too, my daughters name is Alaya and she was born on June 26, 2004 ! Everyone mints pronounces her name as A-LIE-AH. Crazy world!

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  7. My daughter Alaya was born 12/3/16 I am English and my wife is Irish but we both loved the name when we saw it

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    1. It hasn't been 12/3/16 yet.......

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    2. I think if they're from Britain they go Day/Month/Year while in America it goes Month/Day/Year ... which means they probably meant March 12th (rather than December 3)

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  8. My daughters name is Alaya Desiree. She was born 06/16/11 everyone always pronounces her name wrong! Aliya I'm like nooo Ah-Laya

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    Replies
    1. Yep that's been me my Alaya was born in 2001

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    2. My daughter name is a Alaya and she was born October 9 2001

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  9. My name is Alaya and I highly enjoyed this, but I will say that my name is pronounced wrong almost every time someone says it. Even though its so easy. But (sadly) I have learned to live with it. :D

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  10. When my son picked Alaya for his daughter he told me it meant soul of the universe/one with the eternal being.

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  11. My name is Alaya I was born in 1993!!

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  12. My name is Alaya ^^ Always pronounced wrong though.. ㅎㅎ 8/22/02

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  13. My beautiful daughter Alaya was born on 4/11/2016! She's shaping into exactly what it says her name means

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  14. What middle names did yous pick to go with alaya I love it

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