Amaia
Meaning
“Basque name meaning 'the end'; the heroine of Navarro-Villoslada's 1879 novel Amaya”
The story
Amaia means "the end" in Basque, which has never stopped the name from starting things. It headlines Navarro-Villoslada's nineteenth-century historical novel Amaya, the book credited with spreading the name through the Basque Country. The American register shows nothing at all until 63 girls in the 1990s, then 676 in the 2000s, then 1,786 across the 2010s. Since 2020 the count stands at 2,974, already past the full 2010s total with years still on the clock. Brazil's 2022 census tells an even younger story: 186 residents named Amaia, median age two, most of them from the newest pages of the register. A Basque literary heroine turning up in maternity wards from Boise to Belo Horizonte is exactly the kind of journey we keep this site for: a three-syllable name that ends on an open vowel travels well, and this one is proving it on two continents at once.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Amaia peaked in the 2020s.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
186 people · the #26,778 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 1,000,000 · median age 2
Among people named Amaia living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2010s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 112 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Amaia
Most people given the name Amaia in the United States are children or teenagers today. The name belongs to this generation.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Amaia deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Amaia truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Amaia fits with your family’s names and surname.
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