Maia

MY·uh · 2 syllables

Maia is distinctive.

92/100

Strong Practical Fit

Balanced across pronunciation, everyday use, lifetime fit and international use.

Name Profile

Pronunciation & Spelling
Effortless
A documented English pronunciation is on file: MY-uh.
91/100
Everyday Use
Low risk
95/100
Growing Up
Strong lifetime fit
Short enough to work in every register without a nickname.
86/100
International Use
Broad international fit
Works cleanly across the assessed languages and writing systems.
85/100

NAME DETAILS

CLOSE SPELLINGS: Mya
OTHER-LANGUAGE FORM: Maja

ORIGIN & HISTORY

About the name

Great; mother — from Ancient Greek Μαίη/μαῖα (maia), an honorific term for older women related to μήτηρ (meter, "mother") and also used to mean "midwife."

Μαίη (Maie) — Ancient Greek.
Mythological and religious contextIn Greek mythology, Maia was the eldest of the seven Pleiades, daughter of the Titan Atlas and the Oceanid Pleione, born on Mount Cyllene in Arcadia; per the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, Zeus secretly fathered the god Hermes with Maia in a cave there, and Maia also raised the infant Arcas, son of Callisto and Zeus. The Pleiades sisters (including Maia) were also associated with mountain nymphs (oreads) and, via their father Atlas, called the Atlantides. In Roman religion, Maia was identified with an earth goddess and honored as the mother of Mercury (the Roman equivalent of Hermes).

POPULARITY

Maia over time

United States

#433RANK

Rank #433 gives national context, not a classroom forecast.

Uncommon in current U.S. usage. Ranked #433 in the U.S., 2025.

SourceU.S. Social Security Administration · 2025 release

Pronunciation & Forms

SAY IT

MY·uh

STRESS ON THE FIRST SYLLABLE

CLOSE SPELLINGS

OTHER-LANGUAGE FORMS

Maya (Sanskrit-linked spelling variant)
MajaSlavic
Mai/Mayshort forms

PRACTICAL LIFE

How This Name Lives

AT SCHOOL & DAY TO DAY

Short and phonetically simple for a child, with two common English pronunciations (MY-uh and my-AH) in circulation, so a small amount of early pronunciation correction is likely.

INTO ADULTHOOD

Reads as classic and mythologically resonant in adulthood, short and cross-culturally recognizable without being tied to a single narrow pop-culture reference.

Cultural Footprint

TRACEABLE ORIGIN

Maia (mythology)eldest of the seven Pleiades in Greek mythology, mother of Hermes by Zeus
Maia Chiburdanidze (b. 1961)Georgian chess grandmaster, former Women's World Chess Champion

More about Maia

FORMALITY

Functions the same in formal and informal contexts, since it is a short, single-form name with no separate long or short forms in common English use.

Names around it

MayaView →

MyaView →

CLOSE SPELLING

EDITORIAL SYNTHESIS

The Decision

Maia is spelled without unusual letter patterns, and it holds up in everyday use. Surname-dependent compatibility remains unassessed until a surname is added.

STRENGTH

A documented English pronunciation is on file. Short enough to work in every register without a nickname.

BEST FIT

Everyday Use is the strongest-scoring part of this name — no obvious nickname traps, rhymes, or initial issues detected.

FULL-NAME CHECK