Given name
Raija
Raija is a feminine given name from Russian. It is used in Finnish.
Original RussianРая
Meaning & origin
How it developed
In Finnish usage, Raija developed from Рая.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1995. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Raija through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 16
- 0 boys · 16 girls
- Most popular year
- 1999
- 6 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for girls is 5 in 2001. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for girls was 6 in 1999. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 193 as a first name in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Raija’s family of names
In Finnish usage, Raija developed from the Russian form Рая.
The ring: across languages.
Across languages 1
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Raija
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Raija, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Nastasja
Nastasja is a feminine given name from Russian. It is used in Ingrian.
>99% girls
Natasja
“birthday”
>99% girls
Ronja
Ronja is a feminine given name from Swedish, ultimately from Russian. It is used in English, German, Swedish, Finnish, and 2 other languages.
>99% girls
Tarja
Tarja is a feminine given name from Russian, ultimately from Ancient Greek. It is used in Finnish.
>99% girls
Ruslana
Ruslana is a feminine given name from Russian.
>99% girls
Ninoshka
“God is gracious” · “a young boy”
>99% girls
Taniya
Taniya is a feminine given name from Russian.
>99% girls
Bogdana
“given by God”
>99% girls