Alija
- Gender
- Boy
- Say it
- AH-lee-ya
- Origin
- Arabic
- US rank, 2025
- #12,003 for boys
Alija is a boys' name of Arabic origin, meaning “exalted, high”. In 2025 it ranked 12,003rd for boys in the US (5 babies).
What does Alija mean?
Arabic: Bosnian form of Ali
“exalted, high”
Alija Izetbegović was the first president of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
More on Wiktionary.
Is Alija a girl's or a boy's name?
Alija is a boys' name. In 2025, it was given to 5 boys in the US. Too few girls were given it to be listed.
How popular is Alija in the US?
- Rank in 2025
- #12,003among boys
- Babies in 2025
- 5about 1 in 340,000 boys
- Five-year trend
- Too rare to calltoo few babies to tell
- Same name in a class
- under 1%chance among 15 boys
In 2025, 5 boys in the US were named Alija, making it the 12,003rd most popular name for boys. Five years earlier, in 2020, it was 6,616th. Its busiest year was 2019, with 12 boys. It first appears in the records in 2001.
2025 had fewer boys named Alija than any year since 2017.
Half of all the boys named Alija in the US since 1880 were born between 2009 and 2020, the years shaded on the chart below.
Alija in the US, year by year
| Year | Boys | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 5 | #12,003 |
| 2024 | 6 | #10,930 |
| 2023 | 6 | #10,815 |
| 2022 | 7 | #9,815 |
| 2021 | 8 | #8,820 |
| 2020 | 12 | #6,616 |
| 2019 | 12 | #6,772 |
| 2018 | 7 | #9,664 |
| 2017 | 0 | – |
| 2016 | 0 | – |
| 2015 | 0 | – |
| 2014 | 7 | #9,636 |
| 2013 | 5 | #12,129 |
| 2012 | 8 | #8,858 |
| 2011 | 6 | #10,801 |
| 2010 | 8 | #8,797 |
| 2009 | 7 | #9,859 |
| 2008 | 7 | #9,864 |
| 2007 | 0 | – |
| 2006 | 5 | #12,048 |
| 2005 | 7 | #9,108 |
| 2004 | 0 | – |
| 2003 | 0 | – |
| 2002 | 0 | – |
| 2001 | 7 | #8,332 |
Names like Alija
Names given in the same years and the same naming tradition, with a similar sound.
Hamza Mustafa Musa Azaiah Asaiah Abdullah Muhammad Amiri Amir Zayd Zahir Yahya
Names related to Alija
More Arabic names
Layla Mohammed Lyla Mohammad Zara Aaliyah Amira Fatima Ali Zayn Aisha Omar Zahra Kairo Safa Liyana
Sources
Figures from Popular Baby Names (US Social Security Administration). Nameling last updated them on 20 October 2026. How the figures are worked out, and the data to download.
To cite this page: Nameling, “Alija: name meaning, origin and popularity”, https://www.nameling.co.uk/names/alija, updated 20 October 2026.