Basque alai, "joyful"; also read as an Arabic name meaning "exalted" — joyful; noble. The fashion designer Azzedine Alaia carried it as a surname.
Alaia ranks 117th among American girls in 2025, with 2,324 born that year. Its best year was 2024, when 2,429 babies were given the name, ranking 112th. The typical living American called Alaia is about 4 years old today. It is relatively most common in Rhode Island, where it accounts for 0.20% of births.
Source: US Social Security Administration, national and state name files, 2025 release, and the Office for National Statistics for England and Wales. Etymology researched and written by our editors. Living-population and median-age figures are our own estimates, described in the methodology.