Maya

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Майя in RU Russia, UA Ukraine, FI Finland and 3 more, Maja in PL Poland, HR Croatia, SE Sweden and 2 more, Maia in GE Georgia, BR Brazil, US United States and 1 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 18 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◐

Maya is also recorded as 8 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish given name433K records spelled Maya8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Mexico, Spain, United States, Argentina

  Also written Mayà, Måyå, Mayá, Mäyä, Màyà

• English given name418K records spelled Maya166 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Australia, Germany, India

  Languages: English, German, Danish

  Also written Maja, Mayae, Ma'Ya, Maýa, Màyà

• Indonesian given name168K records spelled Maya50 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India, Indonesia, United States, Malaysia

  Languages: Indonesian, Hindi, Malay

  Also written Mahamaya, মহামায়া, 'Maya, Maya', มาหามะยา

• French given name158K records spelled Maya51 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, Spain, United States, Belgium

  Languages: French, Catalan

  Also written Màyà, Mayä, Mäyä, Mayà, Maÿa

• Portuguese given name147K records spelled Maya28 spellings in the group

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

  Also written Mayã, Mayá, Mãÿã, Mäyä, Ḿaya

• a separate given name56K records spelled Maya8 spellings in the group

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

  Also written Mayà, Mayā, Mayã, Maẏa, Mayá

• Turkish given name39K records spelled Maya5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Türkiye, Turkmenistan, Syria, India

  Languages: Turkish, Turkmen, Azerbaijani

  Also written Maýa

• Japanese given name30K records spelled Maya2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Japan, India, United States, Turkmenistan

  Also written Ma-Ya

69 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●

Maya 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 English, The great one; name of Roman goddess and a Hindu goddess; nickname from Maria

  as a name·Baby names, 25,350 baby names nicknames for your family, friends pets, including the top 100 names, 2,000 most popular…

• In French, Name with multiple origins, often linked to Hebrew Mayim or Sanskrit māyā

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

• variant spelling ofMaid, habitational name from Maid de Montcal and other places (see Maia)

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• In English, A member or descendant of various peoples:

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

• Nrsimha (N); Rama (N); Siva (N)

  as a name·Sunama Sarit (Hindi) Ten Thousand Sanskrit Names

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●

EC INEC — Visualizador de Nombres y Apellidos, per-token query API (1900–2024) — 123 years between 1901–2024. 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)
• Maya Angeloub. 1928USAmerican poet, author, and civil rights activist (1928–2014)
• Maya Harrisb. 1967USAmerican attorney and advocate (born 1967)
• Erika Eleniakb. 1969USnot in their usual nameAmerican-Canadian actress of Estonian-Ukrainian descent (born 1969)
• Maya Rudolphb. 1972USAmerican actress and comedian
• Maya Sansab. 1975ITItalian actress
• Maya Kazanb. 1986USAmerican actress
• Maya Erskineb. 1987USAmerican actress
• Maya Mooreb. 1989USAmerican basketball player (born 1989)
• Maya Hawkeb. 1998USAmerican 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 · 1,672 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Maya?

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

In which country does Maya have the most bearers?

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

Where is Maya most common?

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

How common is Maya compared with other names?

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

Is Maya a male or female name?

Maya 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 Maya mean?

Recorded meaning: Spanish variant related to Mage, from Old French mage ‘judge/magistrate’; town official.