Liya Linux began as a personal project by Sayed M. Hisham and Siya, who were frustrated with bloated systems and wanted an efficient, lightweight alternative. Inspired by Arch Linux's flexibility, they set out to create a distribution that was easy to use, bloat-free, and focused on performance. Originally named Anita, the project had its first release on January 21, 2022, featuring KDE Plasma. However, the name was changed to Liya, and the project evolved with the inclusion of Cinnamon and MATE desktops, maintaining its core values of speed, simplicity, and user customization.