MEANING & CONTEXT
What does Maya mean?
In Indian philosophical vocabulary māyā denotes illusion or creative appearance. Sanskrit sources also use the word as a divine epithet.
Pronunciation
IAST: māyā
Meaning themes
Spellings in Indian scripts
Devanagari
माया
Letter-by-letter: māyā
Conventional spelling
Bengali
মায়া
Conventional spelling
HISTORICAL VOTER RECORDS
Maya in Indian usage
599,524 historical electoral-roll records, chiefly adults, rather than current baby-name rankings.
Mostly recorded for girls (97.6%) in these historical records.
- Recorded as female: 585,362 records (97.6%).
- Recorded as male: 14,162 records (2.4%).
By birth decade
| Birth decade | Records |
|---|---|
| 1920s | 1,774 |
| 1930s | 8,474 |
| 1940s | 28,412 |
| 1950s | 62,973 |
| 1960s | 120,367 |
| 1970s | 139,978 |
| 1980s | 144,270 |
| 1990s | 93,126 |
| Other decades | 150 |
By state or territory
| State / territory | Records |
|---|---|
| Uttar Pradesh | 218,051 |
| Madhya Pradesh | 104,007 |
| Rajasthan | 84,918 |
| Bihar | 59,616 |
| Haryana | 47,091 |
| Delhi | 14,990 |
| Kerala | 14,156 |
| Uttarakhand | 13,314 |
| Jharkhand | 12,713 |
| Himachal Pradesh | 10,146 |
| Assam | 4,688 |
| Odisha | 3,597 |
| Tripura | 3,345 |
| Karnataka | 1,288 |
| Goa | 1,195 |
| Chandigarh | 925 |
| Punjab | 920 |
| Meghalaya | 871 |
| Arunachal Pradesh | 868 |
| Maharashtra | 846 |
| Manipur | 386 |
| Nagaland | 366 |
| Mizoram | 360 |
| Sikkim | 302 |
| Andaman and Nicobar Islands | 230 |
| Andhra Pradesh | 163 |
| Other states | 172 |
How to read these numbers
Small counts and a second count where needed are withheld for privacy; an omitted value is not zero. Coverage, dates and suppression.
Recorded abroad
Official births registered in 2025, for the exact spelling shown.
| Jurisdiction | Spelling / recorded sex | Births | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| England & Wales | Maya / F | 1,259 | 28 |
| Scotland | Maya / F | 136 | 20 |
ONS and National Records of Scotland; Crown copyright, Open Government Licence v3. Counts follow each office’s publication rules.
Explore related lists
Sources
- Given-name entry (Wikidata): Maya ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Given-name spelling
- Historical Indian voter-record totals, v3 ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Historical usage; CC0 1.0; birth years 1910–2001
- England & Wales 2025 birth statistics: Exact spelling Maya; Table_6, C33 ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Exact spelling Maya; Table_6, C33
- Scotland 2025 birth statistics: Exact spelling Maya; full-list-1974-2025.csv; 2025 Girl ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Exact spelling Maya; full-list-1974-2025.csv; 2025 Girl
- Monier-Williams, māyā, p. 811,1 ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Adapted dictionary text: CC BY-SA 4.0.