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The first name 
Mia

Mia is a first name typically given to girls, but in rare cases also used as a boys name.

Mia is a very popular name!

In the US, Mia is one of the most popular names ever. In the SmartGenius ranking recently, it has regularly been among the top 10 most common girls names and is currently in place 6. In fact, one out auf 300 girls under the age of 10 is named Mia. In the entire USA, approximately 272,556 people – children, adults and seniors – currently bear the name Mia. That is 0.08 % of all living Americans.

You won't believe all there is 
to discover about the name
 
Mia

What does the name 
Mia mean?

The first name Mia is a short form of Maria. Its meaning is probably ‘gift of God’ in reference to the Hebrew word ‘rym’, which means ‘giving a present’ in English. However, the exact meaning of the name is not yet clear.

Interesting facts! Mia could also mean 'the fruitful one', as a derivation of the Hebrew word 'mry' for 'to be fruitful'. The little word 'mry' also exists in the Egyptian language and can be translated with 'beloved'. Mia can therefore also mean 'the beloved'.

Quite a few famous people also have the name Mia

An award-winning actress

Mia Farrow (*1945)
The US actress became famous especially for her leading role in the cult film 'Rosemary's Baby'. For her acting performances she received, among others, a Golden Globe and the David di Donatello Award, as well as many other nominations.

An actress

Mia Wasikowska (*1989)
The Australian has starred in many films - you may know her as 'Alice' from the film adaptation of 'Alice in Wonderland' or as 'Edith Cushing' in Guillermo Del Toro's mystery horror film 'Crimson Peak'.

A prima ballerina

Mia Slavenska (1916 -2002)
Born in Croatia, she began dancing at the age of 4. She founded two ballet theaters and danced in one of the leading opera houses: the 'Metropolitan Opera' in New York.

A fictional character

Amelia 'Mia' Thermopolis
She is a fictional and main character in 'The Princess Diaries' book series by Meg Cabott and is generally called 'Mia' for the most part.

Go on a journey to places 
with your name

When you hear the name Mia, you might first think of a woman or a girl. But did you know that there are also places with the name Mia? Are you also called Mia? Maybe one day you will visit the places that are named just like you...

An art museum...

in Minneapolis in the US state of Minnesota is called 'Minneapolis Institute of Art' and is abbreviated MIA.

Mia Mia...

is a place and an area in the Australian state of Victoria.

An airport

You can fly to MIA: 'Miami International Airport' is abbreviated as MIA.

A subway station

In Seoul, South Korea you will find the Mia Station. It is an underground station located in Mia-dong, Gangbuk-gu.

MIA...

is short for Murrumbidegee Irrigation Area - it is geographically located within the Riverina area of New South Wales.

Mia -
a name for the future?

This is a real surprise! Mia is a name that has been around for a long time, but only really took off in the 21st century. In the year 2017, it reached its best rank at #6 according to our SmartGenius statistics. This makes Mia 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 Mia was observed for the first time ever in 1933, it now seems to have found its place in the zeitgeist of the 21st century. In 2017, the year of its highest popularity, the name was given a total of 13,512 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 Mia was given less than five times or even none at all in the entire USA.

Mia - cementing the new path

In 2022, Mia ranked #8 in our SmartGenius statistics. In absolute figures, this means it was given to newborn girls a total of 11,027 times. No one knows what names (or combinations of numbers and letters) will be popular 50 years from now, but given its popularity in the early years of this millennium, there is a good chance that Mia will not disappear from the screen anytime soon.

Mia -
well known in all states of the USA, most popular in Nevada

There are only 537 different women’s names registered in every single state in the U.S., and Mia is one of them. However, Mia is not equally widespread in all states, but people in Nevada seem to particularly fancy this name – the 2,839 women called Mia who live here are 0,636% of all female residents and push their name up to #20, easily placing it in the top 100 most common female names in Nevada.

Mia has 3 letters 
and begins with an M

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 only three letters, the name Mia is obviously very short. In fact, only 1.0% of all common first names in the US consist of exactly three letters. Just 0.2% of all first names are even shorter and only have two letters, while nearly 99% of all boys’ and girls’ names use more than three 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.

Other names with 
M, i and a

If you take all the letters in the name Mia – M, i and a – and put them together again, you can form other names, such as Mai or others.

With hands, flags and sounds 
How to say Mia

If your name is Mia 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...

This is how you spell the name Mia

So that everyone really understands you when you have to spell the name Mia, you can simply say:

Mouse

Igloo

Apple

This is how the name Mia is spelled in the NATO phonetic alphabet

The NATO alphabet often helps people spell words on the phone or radio when there are communication problems.

How do you write Mia in Braille?

Braille is made up of dots, which the blind and visually impaired can feel to read words.

Mia

Mia

You want to tell a deaf person that your name is Mia

Just use American Sign Language!

The name Mia is particularly colorful in the Semaphore flag signaling system!

These flags are used for maritime communication - each flag represents a letter.

M
I
A

Have you ever waved the name Mia

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
I
A

Beeping like crazy...

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. Mia sounds like this: