As we continue into the month of May, a time of blooming flowers and warming days, it’s the perfect time to delve into the enchanting world of names that echo this season of renewal. Names like May, Mae, Maya, and Maia are more than just melodic – they are vessels of history, mythology, and nature, carrying stories that span centuries and cultures. Whether you’re drawn to their lyrical sound or curious about their rich origins, these names offer a captivating window into how language, culture, and identity intertwine to give birth to a Jewish name. As May unfolds around us, let’s explore the fascinating journey of these timeless names.
May I begin?
Our exploration starts with the name of the month itself: May. Rooted in ancient Greek mythology, May derives from Maia, a goddess said to be the mother of the Greek god Hermes and a consort of the chief god Zeus. Her name apparently means “mother” or “nurse,” reflecting on the nurturing essence of this female deity. The Romans, ever the admirers of Greek culture, adopted Maia into their own pantheon as a goddess of earth, nature, spring, and growth. It’s no surprise, then, that they named the month of May in her honor as a tribute to a deity who they understood to symbolize renewal and vitality.
Fast forward to modern times, and the name May continues to charm, evoking images of springtime and warmth. Easy pop-culture references to people with this name include the fictional character Aunt May from Spider-Man, and the legendary wrestler and WWE Hall of Famer Mae Young (1923–2014), whose first name reflects an alternate way of spelling May.
Next, we encounter the name Maya, which shares its melodic resonance with Maia – they are in fact homophones, which means that they are pronounced the same, but have totally different spellings and origins. In Sanskrit, Maya means “illusion” or “magic,” and it is one of the names of the Hindu goddess Lakshmi. It also holds historical significance in Buddhism as the name of Queen Māyā, the mother of Gautama Buddha.
In the Western world, probably the most well-known person to be named Maya was Maya Angelou (1928–2014), a famous author and civil right activist. And let’s not forget the ancient Maya civilization, a sophisticated Mesoamerican society that lived in the areas now known as southern Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, and El Salvador and Nicaragua.
But this column focuses on Jewish names, rather than Greco-Roman mythology or ancient Mesoamerican civilizations. As such, our attention turns to the relatively modern Hebrew name Maya. According to data from the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), the name Maya (or Maia) ranked as the fifth most popular name for Jewish girls born in Israel in 2023, having slipped from fourth place in 2022. Notably, in 2020, it held the second position, reflecting its enduring appeal among Israeli families.
The origins of this “Jewish name,” however, are not so clear. What is clear is that this name is not rooted in Tanach or the writings of Chazal, thus raising questions about its etymology. One possibility is that the name Maya was influenced by its Greco-Roman or Sanskrit counterparts that we discussed earlier. But this might prove problematic from a Halachic standpoint, as it doesn’t sound so “Jewish” to name our nice Jewish girls after goddesses from ancient pagan cults.
Alternatively, the Jewish name Maya may derive from the Arabic feminine name Mayya, meaning “water.” This connection is particularly intriguing, as students of Gemara will immediately recognize that the Aramaic word for “water” is also mayya. If this is indeed the source of the name, then Maya would be etymologically-linked to the Hebrew feminine given name Mayim, which likewise means “water.” I’ll just namedrop my wife’s cousin Mayim Bialik for a quick and easy example of that name in pop culture.
My friend Rabbi Yehuda Spitz (of Yeshivas Ohr Somayach in Jerusalem) informs me of another explanation for the origins of Maya: He heard that the name Maya gained popularity in Israel following the Yom Kippur War in 1973, as it serves as an acronym for the Hebrew term Milchemet Yom HaKippurim. This theory highlights how historical events can influence naming trends within Jewish communities.
Rabbi Avraham Levy, in his work Viykareh Shemo B’Yisrael, notes that the name Maya is of foreign origin and records that Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky (1928–2022) expressed disapproval of its use. Nevertheless, Rabbi Levy posits that the name may carry a positive connotation in Hebrew. He suggests that it could be interpreted as a portmanteau of the Hebrew prefix mem (meaning “from”) and Hashem’s two-letter name (ya-h), symbolizing gratitude to G-d for the gift of a daughter thus named. This interpretation is independently echoed by Rabbi Ron Yosef Chaim Masoud Abuchatzeira of Afulah, who nonetheless concludes that, as a non-Jewish name, its use should ideally be avoided.
Rabbi Avishai Teherani provides additional insight. He is bothered by the fact that the name Maya/Maia seems rooted in pagan mythology and thus should be avoided. In trying to justify the use of this name, he writes that he initially considered the possibility that Maya/Maia derives from the Arabic word for “water” (like we wrote above).
However, he writes that he came up with other possible sources for this name. The Medieval work Yossiphon (which is loosely based on the writings of the original Josephus from the antiquity) relates a legend that tells that the months of May and June in the Western calendar were named after two brothers, Maya and Janus, who were said to have founded Rome. If this account is accurate, Rabbi Teherani argues, then Maya originally referred to a human figure rather than a Greek goddess, rendering the name permissible to utter or use, as it would not fall under the prohibition of invoking names associated with idolatry.
Similarly, Rabbi Gedaliah ibn Yachya in Shalsheles HaKabbalah (a work whose historical reliability has been debated) claims that a wise woman named Maya lived during the time of Moses, and that the month of May was named in her honor. Based on this source as well, Rabbi Teherani argues that there is some justification for giving the name Maya to a Jewish girl, as it originally refer to a person, not a deity. (There’s also a whole school of Hellenistic philosophy known as euhemerism that sees all the gods and goddesses in the Greco-Roman tradition as essentially being named after deified people).
Rabbi Teherani further notes that even if the name Maya/Maia does trace back to the Greek goddess, it would still be permissible to use. This is because Rabbi Yair Chaim Bacharach (1638-1702) wrote in his seminal responsa Chavos Yair (§1) that saying of names of historical deities that are no longer actively worshipped is permitted, even though the Torah otherwise forbids uttering the names of idolatrous gods (Exodus 23:13). Despite these arguments, Rabbi Teherani ultimately advises against naming one’s daughter Maya, both because of its gentile origins and its historical use as a masculine name (remember, the two guys who founded Rome were brothers, not sisters).
In conclusion, while the name Maya enjoys widespread popularity in contemporary Jewish communities, its origins and appropriateness remain subjects of Halachic debate. Yet, the cross-cultural resonance and layered meanings of this name continue to make it a name of enduring fascination.
