Maya is a first name typically given to girls, but in rare cases also used as a boys name.
The first name Maya is one of the top 100 most popular girls names in the US – currently at #58 in our SmartGenius ranking. Over 1,000 babies each year are named Maya, accounting for approximately 0.30 % of all newborn girls. In the entire USA, approximately 108,771 people – children, adults and seniors – currently bear the name Maya. That is 0.03 % of all living Americans.
The first name Maya has several meanings, because it occurs in multiple languages. Following the Latin word ‘maius’, which is translated as ‘greater’, Maya can mean ‘the higher’. In ancient Japanese, ‘Māya’ has the meaning ‘golden curl.’ In Arabic and also as a short form of Hebrew ‘Mayaan,’ Maya can also mean ‘source.’
Maya is also the name of... a Mesoamerican civilization, that existed from about 250 to 1700. They lived in the area that today comprises of southeastern Mexico.
Maya Angelou (1928 - 2014)
Maya Angelou was an American writer, poet, actress, and activist. Angelou is best known for the first part of her autobiography 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings', published in 1970. This book describes her childhood and adolescence and her experiences as a black woman in the United States. Angelou has published other books, as well as poetry and films, and has received many awards for her work as a writer and activist. In 2011, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States.
Maya Harris (*1967)
Maya Harris is an American public policy attorney and politician. She is the younger sister of Senator Kamala Harris, and was a leading strategist in her successful 2020 campaign for Vice President of the U.S. Harris was previously a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, and has also worked as a political analyst and commentator. She also served as vice president for democracy, rights and justice at the Ford Foundation.
Maya Rudolph (*1972)
Maya Rudolph is an American actress, singer, and comedian. She began her career as a member of the satirical ensemble 'The Groundlings'. She later gained fame for her appearances on the NBC comedy show 'Saturday Night Live' (since 2000) where she became known for her character portrayals and impersonations. Rudolph has appeared in many popular films, including 'Bridesmaids' (2011) and 'Away We Go' (2009), as well as television shows such as 'Up All Night' (2011 - 2012) and 'The Good Place' (2018 - 2020). She is the daughter of soul singer Minnie Riperton.
Maya Hawke (*1998)
Maya Ray Thurman Hawke is an American actress and singer, and the daughter of Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman. Hawke made her acting debut in the third season of the Netflix series 'Stranger Things' as Robin Buckley, and has since appeared in various projects, including the BBC adaptation of 'Little Women' (2017), 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' (2019), and 'Do Revenge' (2022). As a musician, she has released the albums 'Blush' (2020) and 'Moss' (2022).
Maya
Maya was the mother of Prince Siddhartha, the future Buddha, the founder of Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, she gave birth to Prince Siddhartha without physical union, conceiving him through her side. After the birth of Prince Siddhartha, Maya passed away and is considered a kind of spiritual mother figure in many Buddhist traditions. Her story is often used as inspiration for spiritual seekers seeking liberation from suffering and ignorance.
Maya
Maya was an important official in ancient Egypt and one of Pharaoh Tutankhamun's treasurers. He was responsible for the administration of the royal household as well as the construction and maintenance of temples and tombs. In addition to his administrative role, Maya also participated in military expeditions and was involved in political decision-making. His name was mentioned on several artifacts and documents found in Tutankhamun's tomb, including the pharaoh's famous death mask.
When you hear the name Maya, you might first think of a woman or a girl. But did you know that there are also places with the name Maya? Are you also called Maya? Maybe one day you will visit the places that are named just like you...
La Maya is a mountain above the village of St-Martin in the Swiss canton of Valais and has an altitude of 9,567 ft. (2,916 m) above sea level.
Mount Maya is an approximately 2,292 ft (699 m) mountain in Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, named after Buddha's mother Maya.
AlMaya is one of the coastal areas of Libya and is located in the region of Tripolitania in the municipality of al-Jafara.
(also called Maya or Maja) is an island in the district of Ketapang in the province of West Kalimantan, Indonesia and is part of the Borneo archipelago.
is a 654 miles (1,053 km) long right or eastern tributary of the Aldan River in the Far Eastern Federal District (Russia, Asia). The river originates from the short headwaters Left Maya and Right Maya.
This is a real surprise! Maya is a name that has been around for a long time, but only really took off in the 21st century. In the year 2022, it reached its best rank at #49 according to our SmartGenius statistics. This makes Maya much more popular than in previous generations, where it was so rare for several years that it was not even recorded in the statistics. While the name Maya was observed for the first time ever in 1940, it now seems to have found its place in the zeitgeist of the 21st century. In 2022, the year of its highest popularity, the name was given a total of 4,208 times. Whether this beautiful girls' name can repeat or even exceed its previous best ranking in the coming years remains to be seen, but the prospects are promising given the positive trend.
In years where the graph has no value, the name Maya was given less than five times or even none at all in the entire USA.
The name Maya may not be in the top rankings of the most popular girls’ names, but it is one of the few female given names, along with only 536 others, that can be found in every single state in the U.S. from Alaska to Florida and from California to New York. Of course, the name occurs more frequently in some states than in others – and Maya is apparently especially popular in Nevada. Although the name is not one of the top 100 most popular women’s names here either, one in 535 women in Nevada is called Maya. In total, that’s 835 women who feel addressed when the name Maya is shouted loudly across Nevada and who ensure that their name makes it to #141 in our SmartGenius ranking of the most common female names in this nice state. If you asked all women in the entire U.S. for their first name, you would hear Maya as the answer a total of 108,771 times. This places Maya at #309 in our SmartGenius statistics for the most popular women’s names in the whole of the USA. This is true for all currently living women across all states and age groups – the recent popularity of the name Maya as a baby name is, of course, a bit different, as you can see from the statistics above.
Well, you might say, you probably figured that out yourself! But what you might not know is: The letter M is a quite popular first letter for girls' names. That’s because 8.5% of all common girls’ names in the US begin with this letter. Only the first letters A and S are more common for girls' names.
With four letters, the name Maya is shorter than most other given names. In fact, only 5.5% of all common first names in the US consist of exactly four letters. Just 1.2% of all first names are even shorter, while 93% consist of more than four letters. On average, first names in the US (not counting hyphenated names) are 6.5 letters long. There are no significant differences between boys' and girls' names.
Therefore: As 8.5% of all girls' names start with an M, this initial letter occurs nearly 2.5-times as often as all 26 letters on average – and the most common one of all the girls’ names starting with M is Mary.
If your name is Maya and someone asks after your name, you can of course just tell them what it is. But sometimes that isn't so easy - what if it's too loud, and you don't understand them well? Or what if the other person is so far away that you can see them but not hear them? In these situations, you can communicate your name in so many other ways: you call spell it, sign it, or even use a flag to wave it...
So that everyone really understands you when you have to spell the name Maya, you can simply say:
Mouse
Apple
Yoyo
Apple
Braille is made up of dots, which the blind and visually impaired can feel to read words.
Maya
Maya
Just use American Sign Language!
These flags are used for maritime communication - each flag represents a letter.
M
A
Y
A
In the navy, sailors of two ships might wave flags to each other to send messages. A sailor holds two flags in specific positions to represent different letters.
M
A
Y
A
In Morse code, letters and other characters are represented only by a series of short and long tones. For example, a short tone followed by a long tone stands for the letter A. Maya sounds like this:
