Kya is a short modern name of uncertain origin, usually explained as a variant of Kaia, which goes back to the Greek earth goddess Gaia and means "earth", or of Kia. It became widely known as the heroine of Delia Owens's bestseller Where the Crawdads Sing and its 2022 film. Kya peaked at number 706 in 2004, fell out of the US top 1000 and then jumped to number 818 in 2023 after the movie; in 2025 it ranks number 1,237.