Maina

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Mann in US United States, GB United Kingdom, NO Norway and 9 more, Man in AR Argentina, HK Hong Kong, MX Mexico, Muñ in CR Costa Rica, PE Peru and 문 in KR South Korea.

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 13 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◐

Maina is also recorded as 4 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Portuguese given name27K records spelled Maina9 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Brazil, India, Argentina, United States

  Languages: Portuguese, Spanish

  Also written Mainá, Maïna, Maiña, Maína, Máiña

• a separate given name5.1K records spelled Maina6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India, United States, Kenya, Nigeria

  Also written Mainá, Maïna, Maína, Mainã, Maīna

• Russian given name1.9K records spelled Maina24 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan

  Languages: Russian, Ukrainian, Uzbek

  Also written Маина, Майна, Маїна, Маіна, Mayna

• Finnish given name646 records spelled Maina3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Finland, India, Nigeria, Estonia

  Languages: Finnish, Estonian

  Also written Maïna

61 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●

Maina 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.

• In Finnish, myna (bird of the genera Mino, Enodes, Ampeliceps, Gracula and Acridotheres in the starling family Sturnidae)

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

• In ki, name of one of the ruling generation-sets (mariika); the other is Mwangi.

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

• In Latvian, third-person singular/plural present indicative of mainīt

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

• In car, conuco, garden, plot or field of cultivated land

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

• In Romanian, to lower the sail using a rope

  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●

IN naampy — India given names from state electoral rolls (in-rolls) — 101 years between 1899–2017. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Maina-Miriam Munskyb. 1943DEGerman draughtswoman and painter (1943-1999)
• Maina Gielgudb. 1945GBBritish ballet dancer
• Maïna Lecherbonnierb. 1973FRFrench novelist
• Maina Sageb. 1975FRFrench politician
• Maina Tudub. 1985INIndian Santali-language author
• Maina Galandb. 2000FRcyclist

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 · 388 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Maina?

We estimate roughly 644 thousand people bear Maina (counting its spellings and scripts) across 13 countries in our records.

In which country does Maina have the most bearers?

We estimate about 464 thousand people bear Maina in South Korea, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled 문.

How common is Maina compared with other names?

In South Korea, Maina is the 24th most common surname of 14,083 surnames recorded there.

Is Maina a male or female name?

Maina is recorded for both men and women. We don't publish a percentage split: a record's gender belongs to the person and is attached to every given name on that record, so names in cultures where a name string also carries a parent's or spouse's given name pick up large cross-gender counts.

What does the name Maina mean?

Recorded meaning: Kikuyu (Kenya): African name