girl's name
Ayda
AY-dah
- Origin Turkish
- Gender Girl
- Letters 4
- Popularity Uncommon
- Births on record 5,462
Ireland
#152
2025 births
Ayda is a girl's name of Arabic and Turkish origin meaning "returning" or "of the moon," and the two languages give it different senses. It ranks 152nd in Ireland and 277th in England and Wales.
- Ayda is a name of Turkish origin.
- Peaked in England and Wales in 2020, when 344 babies were given the name.
- It has been rising over the past decade in England and Wales.
- Today about 1 in 3,194 babies in England and Wales is given this name.
- First appears in birth records in 1999.
Ayda over time
Births per decade in England and Wales, 1990s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1990s | 5 |
| 2000s | 14 |
| 2010s | 1,024 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 1,434 |
What Ayda means
Ayda means returning or visiting in Arabic, from a root about coming back. In Turkish it is read as of the moon, from ay — an unrelated reading that arrives at the same four letters.
Where Ayda comes from
Ayda reaches modern use from two languages. The Arabic Aida or Ayda comes from a root meaning to return or to visit, giving one who returns; it is the same root behind eid, a recurring festival. The Turkish Ayda is built on ay, the moon, with a suffix meaning on or of, giving on the moon — the same element behind Aylin, Aynur and Aysel. Verdi's Aida, first performed in Cairo in 1871, is a third and separate thing: the Ethiopian princess of the opera is a fictional invention, and the name's spelling there is Italian. Ayda's British and Irish standing reflects Turkish and Middle Eastern migration rather than the opera, and our data supports that — the name appears from 1999, not from the nineteenth century.
Ayda in use
Ayda ranks 152nd in Ireland with 31 births in 2025, 158th in Scotland and 277th in England and Wales with 165 births, so it has real standing across the islands. It is rising in our data with a peak in 2020, and our records carry it only from 1999. It holds 1,240th in France and 2,426th in the United States.
How popular is Ayda?
In 2025, Ayda was given to 165 babies in England and Wales, ranking #277 that year. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.
Where Ayda is used
Figures for England and Wales withhold any name given to fewer than three babies in a year, so a gap means the name fell below that floor rather than went unused. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Ayda
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Ayda also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Ayda over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Ayda in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Ayda
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Ayda — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Ayda
What does the name Ayda mean?
Returning, in Arabic; of the moon, in Turkish. The two languages arrived at it separately.
Is Ayda from the opera Aida?
No. Verdi's Aida is a fictional Ethiopian princess and the spelling there is Italian. Our records carry Ayda only from 1999.
Is Ayda related to Aylin?
Under the Turkish reading, yes — both build on ay, the moon.
How popular is Ayda?
152nd in Ireland and 277th in England and Wales.
Is Ayda a girl's or a boy's name?
Ayda is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
Is Ayda a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Ayda currently ranks #152 in England and Wales. It has been rising over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.