Maia

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Maya in IN India, SY Syria, BG Bulgaria and 3 more, Майя in RU Russia, UA Ukraine, FI Finland and 3 more, Maja in PL Poland, HR Croatia, SE Sweden and 2 more and Maiia in AR Argentina, NO Norway, DK Denmark and 1 more.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 24 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Maia is also recorded as 5 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• English given name67K records spelled Maia17 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Brazil, Canada, Australia

  Languages: English, German, Dutch

  Also written Maïa, Mai'A, Maía, Māia, Máia

• French given name47K records spelled Maia18 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, Spain, United States, Belgium

  Languages: French, Catalan

  Also written Maïa, Mayya, Maîa, Maïä, Maÿya

• Norwegian Bokmål given name8.4K records spelled Maia7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Norway, Denmark, Sweden, United States

  Languages: Norwegian Bokmål, Danish, Swedish

  Also written Maía

• a separate given name5.0K records spelled Maia9 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, India, United Kingdom, Canada

  Also written Maía, Maï̇a, Maiâ, Mai︠a︡, Maiá

• Romanian given name4.6K records spelled Maia3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Moldova, United States, Romania, Italy

  Also written Mâia, Maïa

60 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Maia is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• Portugal; Inquisição de Lisboa and Évora

  as a name·Dicionario Sefaradi De SobrenomesDictionary Of Sephardic Surnames Inclusive Cristaos-Novos, Conversos, Marranos, Italianos,…

• In English, mother of Hermes

  as a name·Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names

• Nutrice

  as a name·Il grande libro dei nomi per bebè. Significato, origini, curiosità. Oltre 7000 nomi per bambine e bambini Significato,…

• In Estonian, a female given name, a traditional vernacular form of Maria / Maarja

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Catalan, Mayan (of or relating to the Maya people of Central America)

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 74 years between 1950–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Maja Michailowna Plissezkajab. 1925RUnot in their usual nameRussian ballet dancer (1925-2015)
• Maja Komorowskab. 1937PLnot in their usual namePolish actress
• Maia Panjikidzeb. 1960GEGeorgian diplomat
• Maia Chiburdanidzeb. 1961GEGeorgian chess grandmaster
• Maia Morgensternb. 1962RORomanian actress
• Maia Sandub. 1972MDPresident of Moldova since 2020
• Maia Estiantyb. 1976IDIndonesian singer and actress
• Maja Ognjenovićb. 1984RSnot in their usual nameSerbian female volleyball player
• Maia Mitchellb. 1993AUAustralian actress
• Maia Reficcob. 2000USAmerican actress

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 942 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Maia?

We estimate roughly 513 thousand people bear Maia (counting its spellings and scripts) across 17 countries in our records.

In which country does Maia have the most bearers?

Maia is most frequently recorded in India, where it is most often spelled maya.

Where is Maia most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Maia is densest in Georgia — about 1 in 85 people — even though India holds more of our records for it.

How common is Maia compared with other names?

In India, Maia is the 131st most common given name of 4,777,337 given names recorded there.

Is Maia a male or female name?

Maia is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Maia mean?

Recorded meaning: places so called. The most important is first recorded in the form Amaia, and is probably of pre-Roman origin.