Name of the Day: Aaliyah

January 16

Aaliyah:

American singer Aaliyah — full name Aaliyah Dana Haughton — was born on January 16, 1979 in Brooklyn, NY.

The young musician signed her first record deal at the age of 12, and by 17 her album “One in a Million” had sold more than 8 million copies worldwide. She is credited with helping to redefine contemporary R&B, pop, and hip hop, earning her the nicknames the "Princess of R&B" and "Queen of Urban Pop".

Aaliyah was tragically killed in a plane crash in August of 2001, at the young age of 22. In her short life, she managed to leave a lasting legacy with an avid fan base to this day, and still holds her title on the Billboard list of the Top 10 female R&B artists in the past 25 years.

Aaliyah single-handedly put this beautiful Arabic name — pronounced “uh-LEE-a” — on the charts in the US. The name catapulted from outside of the Top 1000 in 1993 all the way up to #202 in 1994 — an extremely impressive feat. After Aaliyah’s death, the name continued to rise in popularity, and it has ranked consistently in the Top 100 since 2001.

Aaliyah means “heavens” or “high-born”, and is now popular in a number of spelling variations including Aliyah, Alia, Aleah, and Aliya, all of which rank in the Top 1000.