Amaya: Name Meaning, Origin, Popularity, & Inspiration

Girl name origins & meanings

Japanese : Night rain
Japanese: the end
Basque: Mother city

What does Amaya mean and stand for?

The name Amaya is of Japanese origin and means "mother city; night rain." The Spanish form of this name derives from the city of the same name and was often used as a surname. It is a variant of Amaia.

Syllables: 3

Family name origins & meanings

Spanish : habitational name, from the name of a mountain and an ancient city in the province of Burgos, probably derived from Basque amai ‘end’ + the article suffix -a.
Japanese : usually written with characters meaning ‘heavenly valley’. It is pronounced Amaya or Amagai in eastern Japan and Amatani in western Japan.

Famous people who gave their babies this name

Mariska Hargitay

Popularity

According to Social Security Administration data, Amaya has slowly begun to decrease in popularity after years of a steady rise. Starting at 196 in 2000, Amaya has fallen in and out of the top 200s in the last two decades, peaking at rank 130 in 2018.

However, it is the 38th most popular name on FamilyEducation.com.

According to Google search data analysis, in the last five years Amaya was at its peak popularity in October 2019.

Amaya, which is much more popular than its sister spelling, Amaia, is perhaps most identifiable as a city in Mexico. Commonly used as a surname, Amaya is slowly becoming more popular as a given name. Actors Mariska Hargitay and Peter Hermann may have started a trend when they named their daughter Amaya in 2011.