Aaliyah comes from the Arabic root ʿ-l-w (ع‑ل‑و), which carries meanings of height, elevation, ascent, and exaltation. As a name, Aaliyah is the feminine form of Ali — the name borne by the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad, and one of the most beloved names in the Islamic tradition.
The name appears throughout the Arabic-speaking world in slightly different spellings — Aaliyah, Aliyah, Alia, Aliya, Aliyya — all tracing back to the same root. In Hebrew, the related word aliyah means "ascent" or "going up," used both for the religious act of being called to read the Torah and for immigrating to Israel.
Social Security records for the first time. By 2001 it had entered the top 100 girl names in the United States, where it has stayed ever since.
Aaliyah does not currently appear in the US Social Security Administration's top 1,000 girls' names, so we don't publish a US rank or birth count for it. That says nothing about the name's standing elsewhere in the world — only that it sits outside the ranked US data we rely on.
In Pythagorean numerology the letters of Aaliyah reduce to 3, The Communicator. This is a traditional interpretive system, not a factual claim about the name.