Maiyah
An Arabic name meaning "resilient", "steadfast", or "full of life".
Name Census estimates that about 539 living Americans carry the first name Maiyah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Maiyah today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Maiyah births was 2009 (38 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Maiyah. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
539
~ 1 in 635,908 Americans
Peak year
2009
38 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,726
Tracked since 1995
Popularity
Maiyah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Maiyah from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 242 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Maiyah by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Maiyah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Maiyahs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Maiyah
The name Maiyah is thought to have its origins in Arabic culture, deriving from the word "maya" which means "water" or "life-giving waters." It is believed to have originated sometime in the medieval period, when Arabic names and influences spread across regions like the Middle East and North Africa.
In some historical Islamic texts, the name Maiyah is referenced as a term used to describe a pure, flowing spring or source of water. This connection to water and life-sustaining elements likely contributed to the name's adoption as a given name for girls.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Maiyah dates back to the 13th century, when a Persian poet named Maiyah al-Din wrote a collection of works celebrating the beauty of nature and the divine. Although little is known about her life, her writings remain an important part of the literary canon from that era.
In the 15th century, there are records of a Maiyah bint Abdullah, a respected scholar and teacher from the city of Fez in present-day Morocco. She is known for her contributions to the study of Islamic jurisprudence and her teachings on the principles of the Maliki school of Islamic thought.
During the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century, a woman named Maiyah Hatun was a prominent figure in the imperial court. She was a talented calligrapher and artist, and her works adorned many of the grand mosques and palaces of the time.
In more recent history, Maiyah al-Qaddafi was the second wife of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Born in 1952, she played an influential role in Libyan politics and was known for her charitable work and advocacy for women's rights in the country.
Another notable figure with the name Maiyah is Maiyah Syahidah Binti Saiful Arif, a Malaysian professional golfer born in 1993. She has won several tournaments on the Ladies Asian Golf Tour and represented her country in international competitions.
People
Maiyah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Maiyah as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Maiyah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Maiyah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 539 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Maiyah going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 635,908 US residents.
Is Maiyah a common name?
We classify Maiyah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 545 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Maiyah most popular?
The single biggest year for Maiyah was 2009, when 38 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Maiyah is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Maiyah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Maiyah in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.