Maya
Maya was given to 3,712 girls in 2025, #62 among girls’ names; 123,750 Americans have been recorded with it since 1940 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 122,000 Americans named Maya and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (99% of everyone recorded); the median is 16 years old and half are between 8 and 23.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Maya by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Maya mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Maya is “a female given name”
Also “a female given name from Hebrew, of modern usage, variant of Maria, equivalent to English Mary”
From Maria, ultimately from Hebrew,
From Maia, from Latin, from Ancient Greek Μαῖα (Maîa)
/maɪ.ə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Maya?
#62 among girls’ names, 2025
Maya rose from #68 in 2015 to #62 in 2025 among girls’ names, although its share of girls born held at 2.3 per 1,000.
5,053 babies in 2006, the peak
Maya peaked in 2006, when 5,053 babies were given it (5,047 girls, #57 among girls’ names). The 3,712 births of 2025 are 73% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 3,712 | #62 | 2.3 |
| 2024 | 4,230 | #51 | 2.6 |
| 2023 | 4,092 | #49 | 2.6 |
| 2022 | 4,247 | #51 | 2.6 |
| 2021 | 4,082 | #55 | 2.5 |
| 2020 | 3,746 | #61 | 2.3 |
| 2019 | 3,823 | #64 | 2.3 |
| 2018 | 3,918 | #62 | 2.3 |
| 2017 | 4,046 | #60 | 2.3 |
| 2016 | 4,090 | #64 | 2.3 |
Every recorded year (80)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 4,133 | #68 | 2.3 |
| 2014 | 3,957 | #74 | 2.2 |
| 2013 | 3,826 | #72 | 2.2 |
| 2012 | 3,981 | #63 | 2.3 |
| 2011 | 4,024 | #64 | 2.3 |
| 2010 | 3,971 | #66 | 2.2 |
| 2009 | 4,393 | #61 | 2.4 |
| 2008 | 4,270 | #71 | 2.3 |
| 2007 | 4,701 | #62 | 2.4 |
| 2006 | 5,047 | #57 | 2.7 |
| 2005 | 4,431 | #73 | 2.4 |
| 2004 | 3,767 | #83 | 2.1 |
| 2003 | 3,849 | #84 | 2.1 |
| 2002 | 3,545 | #90 | 2.0 |
| 2001 | 3,010 | #110 | 1.7 |
| 2000 | 3,019 | #113 | 1.7 |
| 1999 | 2,854 | #113 | 1.6 |
| 1998 | 2,687 | #123 | 1.5 |
| 1997 | 1,676 | #182 | 1.0 |
| 1996 | 1,445 | #201 | 0.82 |
| 1995 | 1,241 | #227 | 0.71 |
| 1994 | 1,130 | #247 | 0.63 |
| 1993 | 1,016 | #271 | 0.56 |
| 1992 | 696 | #368 | 0.38 |
| 1991 | 576 | #443 | 0.31 |
| 1990 | 652 | #399 | 0.34 |
| 1989 | 344 | #616 | 0.19 |
| 1988 | 288 | #669 | 0.16 |
| 1987 | 288 | #654 | 0.17 |
| 1986 | 233 | #747 | 0.14 |
| 1985 | 251 | #696 | 0.15 |
| 1984 | 240 | #695 | 0.14 |
| 1983 | 290 | #607 | 0.17 |
| 1982 | 347 | #547 | 0.20 |
| 1981 | 323 | #571 | 0.19 |
| 1980 | 398 | #506 | 0.24 |
| 1979 | 385 | #513 | 0.24 |
| 1978 | 296 | #581 | 0.19 |
| 1977 | 343 | #531 | 0.22 |
| 1976 | 212 | #698 | 0.14 |
| 1975 | 187 | #759 | 0.13 |
| 1974 | 169 | #800 | 0.12 |
| 1973 | 123 | #972 | 0.08 |
| 1972 | 147 | #872 | 0.10 |
| 1971 | 135 | #950 | 0.08 |
| 1970 | 142 | #914 | 0.08 |
| 1969 | 96 | #1,136 | 0.06 |
| 1968 | 67 | #1,370 | 0.04 |
| 1967 | 44 | #1,742 | 0.03 |
| 1966 | 50 | #1,595 | 0.03 |
| 1965 | 29 | #2,231 | 0.02 |
| 1964 | 36 | #1,996 | 0.02 |
| 1963 | 23 | #2,589 | 0.01 |
| 1962 | 35 | #1,972 | 0.02 |
| 1961 | 19 | #2,916 | 0.01 |
| 1960 | 28 | #2,227 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 20 | #2,644 | 0.01 |
| 1958 | 13 | #3,494 | 0.01 |
| 1957 | 12 | #3,605 | 0.01 |
| 1956 | 11 | #3,833 | 0.01 |
| 1955 | 9 | #4,272 | under 0.01 |
| 1954 | 9 | #4,173 | under 0.01 |
| 1953 | 15 | #2,887 | 0.01 |
| 1952 | 7 | #4,781 | under 0.01 |
| 1951 | 8 | #4,257 | under 0.01 |
| 1950 | 7 | #4,592 | under 0.01 |
| 1949 | 10 | #3,537 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 5 | #5,123 | under 0.01 |
| 1942 | 5 | #5,119 | under 0.01 |
| 1940 | 5 | #4,817 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Maya a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Maya has been given almost only to girls: 163 boys in 80 years of records.
Girls and boys named Maya: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Maya, and how old are they?
122,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 99% of the 123,750 Americans ever recorded as Maya. The median Maya alive today is 16 years old; half are between 8 and 23.
The 2020 Census counted 103,000 people named Maya (102,637 women and girls, 363 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 99,589 born in the U.S. The Census count is 3% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 7 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 216 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 2,660 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 9,160 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 58,700 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 51,600 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Maya born?
The states with the most babies named Maya are California, Texas and New York, with 35% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 658 | #29 | 1.3× |
| Texas | 354 | #71 | 0.7× |
| New York | 275 | #41 | 1.4× |
| Florida | 244 | #58 | 1.0× |
| Massachusetts | 161 | #18 | 1.5× |
| Illinois | 153 | #48 | 1.3× |
| New Jersey | 135 | #51 | 1.3× |
| Washington | 123 | #33 | 1.2× |
| North Carolina | 114 | #81 | 0.7× |
| Pennsylvania | 111 | #82 | 0.8× |
Where Maya is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Maya is most over-represented in District of Columbia: since 1940 it was given 2.2 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Maya with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 331,454 babies since 1880, Maya is the most given (37% of them). In 2025 it was given to 3,712 of their 5,395 babies (69%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Maya
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Maya and names like it
- Compare Maya and MaeBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sMaya peaked in 2006.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Maya since 1910.
- The top names of 2006The year the most babies were named Maya.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Maya alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with MMost given first.