Comments for the name Amaya

It's beautiful.

Don't think I've ever met a Japanese person named Amaya. Not in my years in Japan anyway. Maybe it's not so common there now or is a regional thing.

Wow, I think that Amaya is beautiful. It sounds splendid and makes me truly think of the night rain.

People probably automatically assume that this name is pronounced "ah-MAY-ah". Well, judging by the spelling (and my prior knowledge of Japanese), I think this name is most likely pronounced "ah-MYE-ah". Thanks!

I think it's beautiful. Not only does it look and sound gorgeous, but I absolutely LOVE the meaning.

I absolutely LOVE this name. I also love it's meaning, it's so lovely.

I love this name. Its meaning is also beautiful. And in response to the person who wrote the pronunciation, I pronounced it ah-mie-ah from the start.

Absolutely beautiful, wonderful meaning, I shall be using this name.

Amaya is a beautiful elegant name. I have seen the name Amayah and it said it means close to God.

This is very pretty. But it doesn't seem Japanese to me.

This is a female name in "Euskera", the language of the Basque Country (Euskalerria). Means "the begining of the end".

The name is of Basque origin. In addition to meaning "the end" in Basque, Amaya is a historical city in Spain.

The name is not a true name in Japan but looks as if someone combined Ame (rain) and yoru (night) to come up with it.
[noted -ed]

I love this name! If you take off the A at the very beginning, and the A at the very end, it spells May. This would be a great name for someone who was born in the month of May.

In the game The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind, there is a lake called Lake Amaya. Also at some point, someone leaves the player a note under the codename Amaya. Nice name.

My mom's friend's granddaughter has this name. Yes, it is pronounced ah-mye-ah.

I think this name is beautiful, but I think it can be pronounced A-mye-ah or A-may-ah. I would pronounce it A-mye-ah. Lovely!

Amaya also from Japanese origin meaning, "night rain".

In Japanese it also means 'night rain'.

This is NOT a Japanese name. It also doesn't have any meaning in Japanese. It doesn't even sound much like the Japanese words for "night" and "rain". Somebody made that up because he thought it sounded kind of close to these words (but it actually doesn't sound much like them) and hasn't been used in Japan at all.

This derives it from Amaia which means "the end". It has already been corrected on this site.

Kind of funny because I guess one of the reasons why it became common is because people liked the false meaning that had been added everywhere.

Pronounced A-My-Ah (Spanish).

Amaya means free spirited and reality.

It is also Japanese.

I've only heard it pronounced A-Mye-Ah. When I was working as a waitress, two of the guys wives were pregnant and due at the same time. Both of them, without even knowing it, named their daughters Amaya. I'd never heard the name up to that point and then two acquaintances named their daughters this at the same time. It was weird.

I don't see why some people are doubting that the Japanese name Amaya exists. The kanji for it are "雨夜", they do indeed mean "night rain" and in combination they are pronounced Amaya. (Source: WWWJDIC.) A Google search on the kanji will turn up several actual examples of the name in use. Maybe an uncommon name, but not a fictitious one.

A cast member of The Real World: Hawaii was named Amaya. The show aired in 1999 and could be the first popular source of this name.

On Amaya being a Japanese name, I have never heard the character for "rain" being read as "ama". It's "ame", pronounced ah-MEH, and if that reading does indeed exist it seems quite rare. I've never encountered the name in a Japanese context; if it does exist, it's most likely a newly created name in the language.

Amaya is the name of a 1920 opera by Spanish Basque composer Jesús Guridi. It was based on the 1879 historical novel "Amaya o los vascos en el siglo VIII" (Amaya, or the Basques in the 8th century) by Spanish Navarrese author Francisco Navarro Villoslada. The story is of a Christian woman, Amaya, who lived during the invasion of Visigothic Spain by the Moors. The name is derived from Amaia, Basque for "the end". Other Basque names from the book, like the feminine Amagoia (or Amagoya in Spanish) and the masculine Aitor were popularised in Spain because of the novel.