Zaya is a short modern name with more than one source: in Mongolian zaya means "destiny" or "fate", while American parents often arrive at it as a variant of Zaia or Zoya or as a pared-down form of Zaylee. Its two syllables and strong Z fit the current taste for Zara and Zuri. Zaya stood at number 5702 in 2000, climbed into the 1200s by 2017, reached number 1167 in 2023 and ranks number 1317 in 2025.