Meaning and background
The story behind Maia
Maia belongs to more than one historical naming tradition. Greek *maia* means a mother or foster mother and names the Pleiad who was Hermes’s mother. A Roman spring goddess of the same name has a potentially separate Latin derivation, perhaps connected with *maior*, meaning greater. Maia is also used as an Estonian and Basque form of Maria. These histories overlap in spelling, not necessarily in origin.
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About Maia
Recorded as a dog’s name
Maia appears in 14 dog licence records in the 2026 New York City dataset.
How to read this count
These records cover New York City and may count the same dog in more than one licence period. They are not a national popularity ranking.
Pronunciation and rhythm
/maɪə/
US English sound sequence, converted from the CMU dictionary. Stress marks are shown separately.
Stress on the first syllable in the recorded US readings.
View dictionary notation
/maɪə/ · primary stress on syllable 1M AY1 AH0
These are US dictionary readings. Personal, regional and other language pronunciations may differ.
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Sources and research notes (2)
- New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene NYC Dog Licensing Dataset — extract_year 2026 — Dog licence periods, not unique dogs; NYC only. No owner-level fields retrieved.
- Carnegie Mellon University / CMU Sphinx maintainers CMU US English Pronouncing Dictionary — US English dictionary readings; not owner-specific or exhaustive multilingual pronunciation
References support the individual facts shown. A source link does not mean the entire profile has been verified.