Maya (given name)
Maya is a female name in various languages with various meanings. In Sanskrit, for instance, Māyā means "illusion or magic", and is also an alternate name of the Hindu goddess Lakshmi.[1] In the Tupi language, of southern Brazil, it means "mother", while Mayara means "grandmother".[2] In the Māori language, the name means "courage" or "bravery",[3] and is popular for Māori girls in New Zealand.[4] The name may be a variant form of the Greek theonym Maia (Μαῖα in Ancient Greek), the eldest of the Pleiades and the mother of Hermes in Greek and Roman mythology.
Maya is an alternate name of Hindu goddess Lakshmi.
Variously spelled Maia or Maja it can also be used as a short form of Maria or Mary in Germany, the Scandinavian countries, and various East European and Balkan countries. Maya is also used as a short form for the name Amalia or the Basque name Amaia or Amaya (meaning "the end") in Spanish-speaking countries.
Popularity
All variants of the name are well-used in the English-speaking world and other countries. Maya has ranked among the one thousand most popular names for girls in the United States since 1970 and among the top one hundred most popular names for American girls since 2002. Spelling variant Maia has ranked among the top one thousand names for American girls since 1996.[5]
Notable people named Maya
- Maya (High Priest of Amun), a High Priest of Amun until at least year four of Akhenaten
- Maya (Treasurer) (13th century BC), the treasurer to Pharaohs Tutankhamun, Ay, and Horemheb of Egypt
- Maya Ackerman, Russian-American computer scientist
- Maya Angelou (1928–2014), African-American author and poet
- Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam (b. 1975), better known as M.I.A., British singer/rapper
- Maya Bar-Hillel (born 1943), Israeli psychologist
- Maya Kalle-Bentzur (born 1958), Israeli Olympic runner and long jumper
- Maya Berović (b. 1987), Bosnian pop star
- Maya Bouskilla (b. 1977), Israeli singer
- Maya Days, American singer
- Maya Deren (1917–1961), American avant-garde filmmaker
- Maya Diab (born 1980), Lebanese singer
- Maya Dolas (1966-1991), Indian gangster
- Maya Gabeira (b. 1987), Brazilian surfer
- Maya Hawke (born 1998), American actress
- Maya Higa, a conservationist and Twitch streamer who streams under the name
- Maya Kazan (b. 1986), American actress and director
- Maya Kulenovic (b. 1975), Canadian artist
- Maya Lin (b. 1959), American architect and sculptor, designer of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial
- Maya Millete (born 1981), American woman who went missing in 2021
- Maya Mishalska (b. 1974), Mexican actress
- Maya Moore (b. 1989), American basketball player
- Maya Nasri (b. 1976), Lebanese singer
- Maya Okamoto (b. 1967), Japanese voice actress
- Maya Plisetskaya (1925–2015), Soviet born ballet dancer
- Maya Ritter (b. 1993), Canadian actress
- Maya Rudolph (b. 1972), American actress and Saturday Night Live cast member
- Maya Sondhi, British Indian actress
- Maya Simantov (b. 1982), Israeli singer
- Maya Soetoro-Ng (b. 1970), Indonesian-American half-sister of U.S. President Barack Obama
- Maya Stojan (b. 1984), Swiss actress
- Maya Tahan (b. 1999), Israeli tennis player
- Maya Tskitishvili (b. 1974), Georgian economist and politician
- Maya Vik (b. 1980), Norwegian singer
- Maya Wiley (b. 1964), American civil rights activist and lawyer, 2021 mayoral candidate for New York City
- Maya Yoshida (b. 1988), Japanese professional footballer
- Maya (singer) (b. 1979), South Korean K-Pop singer
- Maya (musician) (born 1979), vocalist of Japanese visual kei band LM.C
Fictional characters named Maya
- Maya the Bee, the main character of the 1912 German children's book The Adventures of Maya the Bee and its various adaptions
- Maya (comics), an Indian DC Comics super-heroine
- Maya, the alter ego of the Marvel Comics superhero Paragon
- Maya, the original name given to Aelita in the French animated TV series Code Lyoko
- Maya (Azumanga Daioh), a minor character in the shōnen manga Azumanga Daioh
- Maya (Is the Order a Rabbit?), a character in the manga series Is the Order a Rabbit?
- Maya, one of the main characters in the Redakai: Conquer the Kairu franchise
- Maya Ibuki, a minor character in the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise
- Maya Santos, a character from the children's animated series Maya & Miguel
- Maya St. Germain, a secondary character in the Pretty Little Liars series of young-adult novels
- Maya, one of the main characters in Hiroki Endo's manga series Eden: It's an Endless World!
- Maya, fictional CIA intelligence analyst who tracked down Osama bin Laden from the film Zero Dark Thirty
- Maya Yamato, drummer of the band Pastel＊Palettes from the BanG Dream! franchise
- Maya Tendo, one of the main characters from the Shojo Kageki Revue Starlight franchise
- Fuuga no Maya, is a male who is half human and half angel in the animated series Saint Beast
Live action TV
- Maya Mehrotra/Maya Arjun Sharma, the lead character from the Sony Entertainment Television India drama series, Beyhadh
- Maya (Power Rangers), the Yellow Ranger in Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy
- Maya, an alien character on the television series Space: 1999
- Maya Bennett, a recurring character in the Disney Channel series The Suite Life on Deck
- Maya Chinn, a character from the American daytime soap opera Passions
- Maya Fisher, a character from the HBO TV show Six Feet Under
- Maya Gallo, a character in the NBC sitcom Just Shoot Me
- Maya Herrera, a character in the NBC drama series, Heroes
- Maya Wilkes, a character from the American sitcom Girlfriends
- Maya the Magnificent, the title elephant of the 1966 film and 1967 TV series Maya
- Maya, a minor character in Battlestar Galactica
- Maya Avant, a character from The Bold and the Beautiful
- Maya Matlin, a character in the teen drama Degrassi: The Next Generation
- Maya Hart, a character in the Disney Channel show Girl Meets World
- Maya dela Rosa-Lim, a character in the drama series Be Careful with My Heart
Games
- Maya, a character from video game Killer Instinct 2
- Maya Amano, a character from the Persona video games
- Maya Do'Urden, a sister of Drizzt Do'Urden in Forgotten Realms
- Maya Fey, a secondary character in the Ace Attorney franchise.
- Maya, one of the six playable characters in the video game Borderlands 2
- Maya Ocean, one of the four pre-made mermaids in The Sims 3: Island Paradise
- Maya Torres, one of the playable characters in State Of Decay
- Maya, one of the minor antagonists in Minecraft Story Mode
See also
Notes
- lakṣmī Archived 20 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Monier-Williams' Sanskrit–English Dictionary, University of Washington Archives
- Entry "Maya" at Dicionario de nomes proprios.
- Entry in the Maori dictionary online.
- Most popular Maori baby names for 2012
- "Popular Baby Names".
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