Laya is a distinctive choice, ranked #1819 in 2024. Your child is likely to be the only Laya in their class.
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UK Rank 2024
#1819
About the Name Laya
Laya is climbing rapidly up the charts, having climbed 630 places in just five years. Its best recorded rank was #1393 in 2018 — and current momentum suggests it could challenge that mark again. The name has been a regular feature in UK records since 2000.
Laya is distinctive enough that your child will likely be the only one in both their class and their school — standing out on every register.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about the name Laya
Unlikely. With around 16 UK babies named Laya per year, your child will almost certainly be the only Laya in her class, and possibly the only one in the whole school.
Laya is currently rising in popularity in the UK, up 630 places over the last five years to #1819 in 2024. If this trend continues, it will become more common in classrooms over the next decade.
Laya is a distinctive choice sitting outside the mainstream UK top names. Parents choosing less common names often find their children appreciate the individuality as they grow up, rarely needing to add an initial to distinguish themselves.
Notable people named Laya include: Laya Francis — Laya Francis is an Indian former cricketer who played as a right-arm medium-fast bowler for the India women's national cricket team.; Laya Lewis — Laya Aiesha Lewis is an English actress, best known for her role as Liv Malone in the fifth and sixth series of the E4 drama Skins.; Laya Joneydi — Laya Joneidi (Persian: لعیا جنیدی) is an Iranian lawyer and associate professor of private law at University of Tehran, who served as the vice president for....
Laya does not appear in the US top 1,000 baby names, making it a distinctively British choice — your child is unlikely to encounter American Layas in the wild.
16
UK babies named Laya (2024)
< 1
Expected classmates with this name (class of 28)
~0.0
In a school of 600
↑ 630 places
Rank change (last 5 years)
🏫 Who else is in the room?
In a typical UK class of 28, highlighted children share the name Laya
Likely around 1 other Laya in the class
UK Popularity (2000–2024)
Rank and birth count · ONS official data
No US data available for this name
✨ Similar names to Laya
Names with a similar style — each with their own classroom story
Laya Francis is an Indian former cricketer who played as a right-arm medium-fast bowler for the India women's national cricket team. She appeared in four Test matches and 11 One Day Internationals for India between 1993 and 1995.
Laya Joneidi (Persian: لعیا جنیدی) is an Iranian lawyer and associate professor of private law at University of Tehran, who served as the vice president for legal affairs in the administration of President Hassan Rouhani. From 2002 to 2003, she worked on research "A Comparative Study of Commercial Arbitration in Islamic Law and Other Major Contemporary Legal Systems" at Harvard Law School.
Argelia Laya was an Afro-Venezuelan schoolteacher, women's rights activist, guerrilla fighter, and politician. A supporter of women's labor, legal, and reproductive rights, as well as various forms of left-wing politics, she was a founding member of the Movement for Socialism (Spanish: Movimiento al Socialismo, MAS), the first woman to serve as its secretary general, and, when she became the party's president in 1990, the first woman to serve as the president of a political party in Venezuela.