Maia or Maya

[reddoreddo]

We would like to call our daughter, due any day now, Maia
or Maya,
pronunced MY-A

what do you reckon, maia or maya and which one of them will people know the right way to say it ?

I think that, unfortunately, your DD will spend her live telling people "not May-a, My-a" and having to spell it, it is a lovely name though. Hope this helps!

Maybe Mia or Mya?

Maya!

I love the name you have chosen especially the 'i' spelling however to me MY-A is spelt MYA the other 2 names are MAY-A/MAI-A so it may lead to a fair bit of confusion. Agree with Wii-unfit- the spelling Mya would stop any confusion! It is a lovely name tho I am 37 weeks pregnant with a girl and its in my top ten x x x

I love the name you have chosen especially the 'i' spelling however to me MY-A is spelt MYA the other 2 names are MAY-A/MAI-A so it may lead to a fair bit of confusion. Agree with Wii-unfit- the spelling Mya would stop any confusion! It is a lovely name tho I am 37 weeks pregnant with a girl and its in my top ten x x x

Maya. It's a well known enough name, can't see anyone not being able to pronounce it. Mia is Mee-a and Mya is just silly.

I have a Maya, pronounced My-Ah, and people keep pronouncing it Meeya or Mayer.

Both very annoying!

Someone at work has a Maya too, but they pronounce it Mayer.

I've thought about how I could have spelled it differently so people wouldn't get it wrong, but haven't some up with an answer.

There seem to be more Mayas around than ever, so I'm always surprised when people don't know how to pronounce it.

I saw a restaurant called Miah yesterday, maybe that's another idea...

Love Maia, bit agree, she will forever have to tell people how to pronounce it. What's wrong with Mia if that's how you want to say it, then people won't get it wrong?

Anyway I think both Maya and Maia are lovely names...

Maia is the correct spelling of the name. Maya ia the mesoamerican civilisation. Any of those makey-uppy respellings are just naff. I don't think you need to worry about the opinions of people who are easily confused by spellings.

I think people will read Maya or Maia as May-a.

If you want to be sure people will read it as Myer, then you will have to spell it MYA or MYER.

As AnnieLob said her daughter gets called Meeya, Mayer or Myer despite it being spelt Maya. I don't mind the name so much but would be put off by having to constantly correct people..

Sorry

I would pronounce

Maia as My-a
Maya as May-a
and
Mia as Mee-a

Of the above I definitely prefer Maia.

OhBuggerandArse - it's not as simple as saying one spelling is the correct one. I've found that many cultures have the name Maya, and it has many spellings and many meanings. For example, we chose as because it's a popular Israeli name (though oddly not of Hebrew origin) and DH is Israeli.

I chose to spell it Maya because of the mesoamerican civilisation. I figured people would recognise the word and pronunciation. But you'd be amazed at the number of blank faces I get when I say "Maya, you know, like the ancient south Aamerican people?"

Sighs.....

I've always thought Maya and Maia were pronounced the same way. This new fangled May-a pronunciation is most strange.

Mia is Mee-ah.

Mya is a genuine spelling of the name- I think it is the Welsh variation though. As previously stated the name is lovely x

Mya is a genuine spelling of the name- I think it is the Welsh variation though. As previously stated the name is lovely x

I like the Maia way of spelling it. Lovely name.

We have a Maia - but be prepared for noone to be able to spell it and lots of cards addressed to Miai.......

Love the spelling Maia but if I saw this spelling I would pn it May - ah.

Likewise, I would also pn Maya as May - ah.

I would pn Mya as My - ah.

And obviously Mia as Mee - ah.

Both are lovely and I would automatically pronounce both as My-a.
I do know know one Maya pronounced May-a though.
Go with whichever spelling you prefer.

Maia. I pronouce it as My-a. Maya I'd be tempted to pronounce May-a

When I was pregnant with our first child, my husband was really keen on the name Maia for a girl, and thought it should be pronounced "Mayer" but when we talked to other people they all said it should be pronounced "Mya" which left us very confused. To be honest, I thought that if no one was sure about the name's pronounciation then we should probably avoid using it and go with second choice (Florence). As it happens, my bump turned into DS1 so we never had to make a decision about a girl's name. Personally, I think I would have regretted using the name. depends if you are happy for ehr to ahve to keep explaining the pronounciation as she grows up....

Mya

Not Mya!!

I have a Maya (pronounced My-ah) and as other posters have said, I am forever correcting spelling and pronunciation.

Maya is a correct spelling not a silly made up spelling - it is spelt differently around the world eg Maja, Maya Angelou etc

I also like the Maia spelling but always thought that was pronounced May-a

I Stand corrected on Mya Nando

I would assume Maya was pronounced My-ah. Lovely name and multi-cultural, as others have said.

For me, Maya is pronounced May-a and Maia is pronounced My-a.