Alaya is a modern name with several possible sources: it is often read as a form of the Arabic Aliya, "exalted" or "sublime", and it is also a Sanskrit word meaning "dwelling" or "abode", used in Buddhism for the storehouse consciousness. Its sound fits in with Alayah, Aaliyah and Layla, which carried it along in the 2010s. Alaya entered the US top 1000 in 2011, peaked at number 338 in 2020 and ranks number 368 in 2025.