Amaya (Spanish-language name)

Amaya is a given name and surname of Spanish origins, derived from the village of Amaya and its neighboring mountain in Castile and León, Spain.[1] The name of the village, in turn, has Indo-European roots [2] 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".[3] Other hypothesis is that the name derived from the Proto-Basque or Basque word Amaia, meaning "the end".[4][1] 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 Visigothic Kingdom, as the capital of the Duchy of Cantabria. In the first stages of the Reconquista, the city was part of the repopulating efforts of the Kingdom of Asturias in the border region of Bardulia, the primitive territories of Castile.

A Japanese surname Amaya of unrelated origin also exists, "usually written with characters meaning 'heavenly valley'".[1]

People with the name Amaya, as derived from its Spanish origin, include:

Given name

Amaya

Amaia

Surname

References
  1. Patrick Hanks, Dictionary of American Family Names (2003), p. 32.
  2. Lastra Barrio, José (2008). Amaya y Peones. Burgos: Publicaciones de la Excma. Diputación Provincial de Burgos y Caja Círculo. ISBN 978-84-95874-55-9. Pp. 13
  3. Lastra Barrio, José (2008). Amaya y Peones. Burgos: Publicaciones de la Excma. Diputación Provincial de Burgos y Caja Círculo. ISBN 978-84-95874-55-9. Pp. 13-14
  4. Justin Cord Hayes, The Terrible Meanings of Names (2013), p. 14.
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