Soraya is the Persian form of the Arabic Thurayya, the name of the Pleiades star cluster, so it means "the Pleiades" or "seven sisters". Queen Soraya of Iran, the Shah's second wife, brought it to Western newspapers in the 1950s, and it is used across Iran, the Arab world, Spain and Latin America. Soraya entered the US top 1000 in 2024 and ranks number 868 among girls in 2025, its best rank so far.