Alea is usually taken as a simplified spelling of Aaliyah or Aliya, the Arabic name that means "exalted" or "high"; it is also the Latin word for a game of dice, familiar from Caesar's alea iacta est. The short form keeps the sound while dropping the extra letters. Alea stood at number 1255 in 2000, its best rank in the period, and has eased down to number 2958 in 2025.