Is this a weird name?

[Ohyikez]

Aya/ Ayah?

It reminds of Victorian novels with references to colonial India - I think an aya, I may be spelling it incorrectly, is a maid/nanny who looks after children.

As in "Hiya! How are ya?!"
Yes.
As in "ey-ya" like (fr)eya?!
God yes.

I know one and read about another today. I'd go with the first spelling. If you live in the Manchester area obviously everyone will think you're saying Hiya...

Just checked and I'm right about the maid.

It can mean miracle or sign.

More like eye-ya

I like Aya - it sounds Arabic

Ayah is nice.

I believe in Hindi is handmaid (not great in terms of meaning)

it means miracle or sign in Arabic

i believe it’s also Japanese but I’m not sure if the meaning there

It is :)

Yes exactly, like The Secret Garden and Mary’s Ayah. In modern vocabulary it would be a nanny.

I think that’s in Hindi isn’t it?

Probably, the character is in colonial India at the time so Hindi would make sense.

It’s a really popular children’s book though. I did it at school back in the 90s and my nieces did it more recently so I imagine a lot of people have the same association. I think it would be a bit weird to be named after a colonial term for a nanny/nursemaid especially as it could well come up at school.

It’s not the only meaning of the word though, so yeah would be super weird to actually be named after a colonial word meaning maid but if you were named after the Arabic word meaning miracle or the Japanese name then would it still be weird?

I think most British people are more familiar with Victorian literature, especially childhood classics like The Secret Garden then they are with the Arabic word for miracle. I honestly had no idea it was an Arabic name but I know exactly what an Ayah is. Aia also means maid in Portuguese so there’s that too.

I’m not sure the great British public are that familiar with Victorian literature

Sorry if you love the name then go ahead and use it of course but I’m not talking about niche PhD literature or anything!

They made a movie of The Secret Garden in 1993, remade it in 2020. The original starred Maggie Smith, the remake Colin Firth. I studied it in primary school in the 1990s, DNieces within the last 5 years. Also saw this article only a few days ago which is probably why it’s really springing to mind:
https://www.stylist.co.uk/entertainment/film/the-secret-garden-millennial-classic/812387

Surely the "Hiya" connotation is a deal breaker? I have lived all over the UK and its used throughout.
I know an "Aylah", a "Laylah" and a "leah", these are similar but without the unfortunate link that will be obvious to every English speaker she ever meets.

I loved the film too and I couldn’t remember Aya being a maid in the film

as a Muslim, I love the Arabic meaning, but a lot of our names get a tough time so it’s hard to chose a not fairly common name that’s not going to be branded a tragedy

I think it's got a really classic sound to it like Anna in English. Really can't see the fact that it rhymes with "hiya" being a thing.

I love the names Amna and Hawa too and have always put them in a similar category.

Sorry, I also thought of Mary Lennox and her ayah.

Not an Ayah of the Quran?

(assuming you’re Muslim as your UN is Zoya)

Zoya is Russian and my username is a reference to a show about wrestling. I am a practising Christian and was a very bookish child, hence my frame of reference.

Zoya is also a Muslim name :)

teaches me to assume, you know what they say about assuming

Glow was a fantastic series and it’s a travesty it got cancelled because of covid.

(Totally misses point of thread, sorry OP)

I like it. Would associate it with The Secret Garden but that wouldn't put me off. I wouldn't think it would be confused with 'Hiya' - that's ridiculous.