Chaya (Hebrew given name)

Chaya is a Hebrew female given name (Hebrew: חַיָּה Ḥayyah, Classical Hebrew: [ħajˈjaː], Israeli Hebrew: [ˈχaja, ħaˈja]; English pronunciations: /ˈhɑːjɑː/ HAH-yah, /ˈxɑːjɑː/ KHAH-yah). With its literal meaning "living", it is considered to be a feminine couterpart 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.

Notable people with the given name include:

Variants of Chaya

• Chaja Florentin, interviewed in the 2009 German documetary 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, 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, 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 1990), 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, Israeli mathematician
• Haya Shalom, 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

See also

• All pages in Hebrew Wikipedia starting with חיה
• All pages with titles beginning with Chaya
• All pages with titles beginning with Chaja
• All pages with titles beginning with Haya
• All pages with titles beginning with Haia
• All pages with titles beginning with Chajka
• All pages with titles beginning with Haika
• All pages with titles beginning with Khaika
• All pages with titles beginning with Khayka