Aanya
आन्याinexhaustible, limitless
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Girl name · Cross-cultural
Amaya
अमाया
guileless, free of deceit
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View your favoritesWhat does Amaya mean?
In Indian use, Amaya is most often read through Sanskrit amāyā, which Monier-Williams defines as an absence of deceit or delusion, so ‘guileless’ is the meaning families usually intend. The name also has a separate origin elsewhere: Wiktionary records a route through Spanish from the heroine of an 1877 Basque historical novel, connecting the name with Basque amai, ‘the end’. The Sanskrit word is documented, but the available evidence does not establish it as the source of every Indian use of Amaya, so the meaning depends on the naming tradition a family has in mind.
No dictionary entry documents this spelling with that sense, so the meaning above is the one families use, not a dictionary definition. How we use sources.
Spelling and pronunciation
अमाया is read a-maa-yaa, with a short opening vowel and long second and final vowels. Spanish and English readings may instead be a-my-a, with the middle rhyming with ‘sky’. Amaia is a Basque spelling, and Amayah also appears. These spellings can accompany different pronunciation traditions.
Also spelled Amaia, Amayah.