Jiya, Maya, Siya or Ruhi? Indian baby girl living in the UK

[meera454]

We have scrapped most of our previous list and are leaning more towards simpler names. What are your thoughts on Jiya, Maya, Siya and Ruhi? Be as brutally honest as you like :)

Really love the name Ruhi in particular but written down it looks a bit incomplete to me? Maybe we could use this as a nickname for Rohini or Ruhani? Ruhi has a beautiful meaning in Hindi.

Absolutely love them all, came very close to using Maya myself but we live in an area that is densely populated with Indians and wanted something less popular (completely personal preference and no judgement on anyone who prefers a popular name).

All very easy to read and pronounce in UK (essential if bringing child up here imo)

Love Ruhi. FWIW.

I like Siya best and don't think it's too much like See Ya.

Ruhi sounds lovely.

Ruhi is lovely, I like Jiya too.

@riddles26 Thank you! :) Is there any one out of these names that stands out to you? I agree, I have come across quite a few Mayas as well! It’s popularity doesn’t put me off, the main criteria is for the name to sound pretty and strong at the same time.

Ruhi and Jiya seem to be liked by quite a few of you, I’m surprised! I thought I would get responses saying that Ruhi is awful. I was hoping that you all like it, It’s quite an unusual name, whereas Jiya, Maya and Siya are a bit more common in the UK I think.

I’m definitely leaning towards Ruhi and Jiya at the moment.. I like Siya but for some reason, there’s something not quite right about it - maybe it sounds a bit too sharp to my ears. Maya sounds a bit flat. Jiya and Ruhi have an energy to them.

Maya is lovely but it is a popular name in so many cultures that they probably won't be alone in their class (we have 1 Indian, 2 polish and one traditional Scottish spelled Maya's in our school year alone)

[quote meera454]@riddles26 Thank you! :) Is there any one out of these names that stands out to you? I agree, I have come across quite a few Mayas as well! It’s popularity doesn’t put me off, the main criteria is for the name to sound pretty and strong at the same time.

Ruhi and Jiya seem to be liked by quite a few of you, I’m surprised! I thought I would get responses saying that Ruhi is awful. I was hoping that you all like it, It’s quite an unusual name, whereas Jiya, Maya and Siya are a bit more common in the UK I think.

I’m definitely leaning towards Ruhi and Jiya at the moment.. I like Siya but for some reason, there’s something not quite right about it - maybe it sounds a bit too sharp to my ears. Maya sounds a bit flat. Jiya and Ruhi have an energy to them.[/quote]
Jiya is lovely.

Hey, I'm a fellow British Indian with quite similar tastes to you.

Absolutely love love love Maya and had this planned as a name for if I have a baby girl since I was about 14. Unfortunately my husband is not so keen 😭 plus it is getting very very common.

I like Siya a lot but I prefer the spelling Sia.

Jiya is nice enough but a bit jarring. How about Diya?

Not a massive fan of Ruhi unfortunately, I'm not sure why. Possibly the way it looks on paper? I can see why it's popular though!

Maya is lovely!

I love all 4 of them but would lean towards ruhi and jiya too because I know countless named maya and siya and are under 5 years old.

My personal preference was for an Indian name that wasn't completely unique but equally not extremely popular and (most importantly for me) easy to read and pronounce

Jiya and Ruhi (or Ruhani) are beautiful

I like Ruhi best, then Jiya.

Maya is extremely popular, We know Mayas and Maias of a whole variety of nationalities but round here they are nearly all Polish. Pronunciation varies between May-a and My-a. To be honest it is a name I would really avoid.

Ruhi is lovely I think, Easy to assume the correct pronunciation and spelling.

Ruhi is my favourite, it's beautiful

Maya would be my choice - although fairly popular it's pretty and very well used internationally. Jiya would be my second choice if you wanted something less popular - again it's a nice name that's fairly well known in the UK and abroad. Siya and Ruhi are okay but much more unusual and not quite as nice sounding to my ear.

When I was child my best friend was Indian she was called Preya, I still love that name.

@Luckyelephant1 I know, it is slightly off putting when a name is incredibly popular but then I guess it's popular because it's a beautiful name which is still easy to say and not overly frilly. I do like the name Diya but it sounds a bit strange when it's not said with the soft 'd' in Hindi and with the more sharp sounding 'd' in English... so I ruled it out for that reason. It's funny because my husband doesn't like the name Maya either! He says it's too popular but I'll keep it on the list anyway just in case he changes his mind haha! Ruhi does look strange written down but then it's so nice when said out loud.

@riddles26 Definitely! The pronunciation is so important to us as well, it just makes life so much easier. I didn't realise how common Siya is within that age group!

@midnightstar66 @nonicknameseemsavailable Ah thanks for sharing! I didn't know that it was so popular amongst non-Indian communities as well! It's the most international name out of the ones I have listed I think. The pronunciation of Maya as May-a is something i really really want to avoid!

@IamnotwhouthinkIam I really like the way you have categorised the four names, Jiya & Maya seem a lot more international than Siya and Ruhi.

Is it a deal breaker if you don't like the way a name looks written down even if you love how it sounds? I am having this issue with the name Ruhi and Siya... they both look strange written down and not as pretty as the modern Aria, Ariana, etc. trendy names these days... I don't want our dd to think we have given her an ugly looking name :(

My daughter is just over 4 and I know 7 named siya from friends' children/baby classes/childcare. It's also a name I've seen regularly on pieces of work when we visited potential primary schools last year. I absolutely love the name but didn't want her to be one of so many where you need to use first initial of surname to identify exactly who (even more so as our surname is not uncommon and I have no control over that!)

Ruhi is beautiful and original.
Maya is really, really boring and samey. It might not be top 10 but it sounds like it. Her class will be full of Mia, Mila etc

I like Jiya and Ruhi best.

Jiya also looks lovely and swirly written down (in my handwriting at any rate!).

I'd take the local accent into account too — often at the end of a name, 'a' will become 'uh', but I can think of one that turns it into almost a short 'o' sound (say Nisha, but make the last syllable sound like shot without the t), which I really dislike.

I have a Maya. Haven't regretted her name, ever. It's just lovely.
Love Ruhi too

I ave always loved Anjuli (pronouced "Ann - Julie") and could be Anglicized to Julie).

I think they're all nice, but I really like Ruhi, and my second choice would be Siya. Ruhi works as a stand-alone name.

I would be concerned that with your pronunciation of Maya that it could be confusing. I know several, spelt Maya and Maia, and some are pronounced May-ah, some Mye-ah, and you would be using another pronunciation, Mar-yah (correct me if I've misunderstood).

I love Ruhi! Such a pretty name. I think it’s complete on its own. I don’t think it’s difficult to pronounce.

Maya is nice, but v popular if that makes a difference (in my area Maya and Mia both feature prominently in the class registers!).

DD is half Indian and I wanted the name Devi for her, but was vetoed on the grounds that was too close to Dave 😂 Wish I’d thought of Ruhi.