Chaya is a Hebrew female given name (Hebrew: חַיָּה Ḥayyah, Classical Hebrew: [ħajˈjaː], Israeli Hebrew: [ˈχaja, ħaˈja]; English pronunciations: HAH-yah, KHAH-yah). With its literal meaning "living", it is considered to be a feminine counterpart of the Hebrew masculine given name Haim. It has a number of other transliterations: Chaja, Haya, Khaya, Haia. East Slavic spelling: Хая.
Approximately before 1920s, for Ashkenazi Jews in Europe it was customary to record legal names of females in diminutive form. In the case of Chaya these were Chayka (Hebrew: חייקה), Chaika, Chajka, Khaika, Khayka, etc. East Slavic spelling: Хайка.
In Latin, the name becomes Vita, and in Spanish Vida. Variants in Yiddish, among the Ashkenazi diaspora, the equivalent name was Vite, Yitta or Yetta.
Notable people with the given name include:
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Variants of Chaya
Chaja Florentin, interviewed in the 2009 German documentary Chaja & Mimi
Chaja Goldstein (1908–1999), Polish-born Dutch dancer and singer
Chaja Rubinstein, birth name of Helena Rubinstein (1872–1965), Polish-born American business magnate
Chaya Arbel (1921–2007), Israeli composer
Chaya Clara Heyn (1924–1998), Israeli botanist and professor
Chaya Czernowin (born 1957), Israeli composer
Chaya Schwartz (1921–2007), Israeli artist, recipient of several Dizengoff Prizes
Chaya Gusfield, American attorney and rabbi
Chaya Kaufman, birth name of Ariel Durant (1898–1981), Ukrainian-born American researcher and writer
Chaya Lispector, birth name of Clarice Lispector (1920–1977), Ukrainian-born Brazilian novelist and short story writer
Chaya Mushka Schneersohn (fl. 1860), member of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic dynasty
Chaya Mushka Schneerson (1901–1988), member of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic dynasty
Chaya Raichik (born 1995), American blogger and owner of Libs of TikTok
Haia Lifșiț (1903–1929), Russian Empire-born Romanian communist
Haya Freedman (1923–2005), Polish-born Israeli mathematician
Haya Harareet (1931–2021), Israeli actress
Haya Kaspi (born 1948), Israeli mathematician
Haya Shalom (born 1944), Israeli lesbian feminist and human rights activist
Haya Shenhav (born 1936), Israeli author of stories and poems for both children and adults
Variants of Chayka
Chajka, (died 1781), mistress of the Polish king Stanisław August Poniatowski
Chajka Klinger (1917–1958), Jewish Holocaust resistance fighter
Haika Grossman (1919–1996), Israeli politician, member of Knesset