Maya

Maya is a rare case of three unrelated names converging on one spelling. The Indian Maya comes from the Sanskrit māyā, a word for illusion and the magic that conjures it, central to Hindu and Buddhist thought. In Buddhist tradition Maya is the mother of Siddhartha Gautama, and in Hinduism it is another name of the goddess Durga.

The Israeli Maya, written מַיָּה, is a modern Hebrew name that Behind the Name derives from mayim, 'water'. The English-speaking world, meanwhile, mostly treats Maya as a variant of Maia, the eldest of the Pleiades in Greek myth and the mother of Hermes. Greek maia meant something like 'good mother' or 'nurse', and may have begun as a child's word for mother. English Wiktionary also connects Maya with Maria. Some English speakers choose the name with the Maya people of Mexico and Central America in mind. None of the sources rules the others out, so the meaning really depends on the family choosing it.

Pronunciation varies more than the spelling suggests. In Britain it is usually 'MY-uh', in the United States sometimes 'MAY-uh', while most European languages and Hindi say 'MAH-yah'. Close relatives include Maja in Scandinavia, Germany and much of Eastern Europe, Maïa in France, and the simplified Mya.

As Maya ends on an open vowel, a middle name beginning with a consonant keeps the two apart: Maya Rose, Maya Catherine or Maya Philippa. For siblings, names with the same light rhythm work well, such as Ida, Nora or Isla for a sister and Elias, Felix or Theo for a brother.