Arya is a noble and deeply significant Buddhist baby name meaning noble, one who has understood the Four Noble Truths, and a person who has entered the path to liberation. In Buddhist tradition, an Ariya — the Pali form — is a being who has directly experienced the truth of the Dhamma and entered the stream that leads inevitably to full liberation. The four stages of an Ariya are: stream-enterer, once-returner, non-returner, and arahant — the fully liberated one. The Four Noble Truths themselves are called the Ariya Saccas — the Noble Truths — because they are the truths that liberate those noble ones who understand them. The Noble Eightfold Path is called the Ariya Atthangika Magga — the noble path. A child named Arya carries the aspiration of genuine nobility in the Buddhist sense: not the nobility of birth or social class but the profound nobility of one who has turned toward the truth and is walking the path of liberation with genuine commitment and understanding.