Alya is a female name that originates from Ancient Greek, Slavonic, Hebrew, and Arabic.
It is formed in a manner similar to other colloquial Russian names (for example, Kostya for Konstantin, Anya for Anna).
Russian citizens of Muslim ethnical minorities also have the name of "Aliya" of probably Arabian descent, which is never used by Russians, and is both a full and a short name.
In Arabic, Alya means sky, heaven, and loftiness.
In Slavonic, Alya is derived from the word алая ("scarlet") in the meaning of "beautiful".