City of Stars

Amaia

Amaya is a female given name and surname of Spanish, Japanese, and Arabic origins, derived from the village of Amaya and its neighboring mountain in Castile and León, Spain. The name of the village, in turn, has Indo-European roots and means "am (ma)" or "mother". The suffix io-ia is also used to form action names or toponyms, implying that the meaning of Amaya or Amaia is "mother city", as it will be called later, "the capital". Other hypothesis is that the name derived from the Proto-Basque or Basque word Amaia, meaning "the end". Variations include Amaia, Amayah, Ammaya, and Amya. Amaya was one of the main villages of the Cantabri Celtic tribes, and played a key role in the Cantabrian wars during the Roman conquest of Hispania, and later, during the Visigo… more »