Amaya is a female given name and surname of

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: ** Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Ca ...

origins, derived from the village of Amaya and its neighboring

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...

in Castile and León, Spain.Patrick Hanks, ''Dictionary of American Family Names'' (2003), p. 32. 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 Proto-Basque ( eu, aitzineuskara; es, protoeuskera, protovasco; french: proto-basque), or Pre-Basque, is the reconstructed predecessor of the Basque language before the Roman conquests in the Western Pyrenees. Background The first linguist wh ...

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous c ...

word , meaning "the end".Justin Cord Hayes, ''The Terrible Meanings of Names'' (2013), p. 14. Variations include Amaia, Amayah, Ammaya, and Amya. Amaya was one of the main villages of the

Cantabri The Cantabri ( grc-gre, Καντάβροι, ''Kantabroi'') or Ancient Cantabrians, were a pre-Roman people and large tribal federation that lived in the northern coastal region of ancient Iberia in the second half of the first millennium BC. Thes ...

Celtic tribes, and played a key role in the

Cantabrian wars The Cantabrian Wars (29–19 BC) (''Bellum Cantabricum''), sometimes also referred to as the Cantabrian and Asturian Wars (''Bellum Cantabricum et Asturicum''), were the final stage of the two-century long Roman conquest of Hispania, in what tod ...

during the

Roman conquest of Hispania The Roman conquest of the Iberian Peninsula was a process by which the Roman Republic seized territories in the Iberian Peninsula that were previously under the control of native Celtic, Iberian, Celtiberian and Aquitanian tribes and the Ca ...

, and later, during the

Visigothic Kingdom The Visigothic Kingdom, officially the Kingdom of the Goths ( la, Regnum Gothorum), was a kingdom that occupied what is now southwestern France and the Iberian Peninsula from the 5th to the 8th centuries. One of the Germanic successor states to ...

, as the capital of the

Duchy of Cantabria The Duchy of Cantabria was created by the Visigoths in northern Spain. Its precise extension is unclear in the different periods, but it seems likely that it included Cantabria, parts of Northern Castile, La Rioja, and probably western are ...

. In the first stages of the

Reconquista The ' ( Spanish, Portuguese and Galician for "reconquest") is a historiographical construction describing the 781-year period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the Na ...

, the city was part of the repopulating efforts of the

Kingdom of Asturias The Kingdom of Asturias ( la, Asturum Regnum; ast, Reinu d'Asturies) was a kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula founded by the Visigothic nobleman Pelagius. It was the first Christian political entity established after the Umayyad conquest of V ...

in the border region of

Bardulia According to some sources, Bardulia is the ancient name of the territories that composed the primitive Castile in the north of what later became the province of Burgos. The name comes from '' Varduli'', the name of a tribe who, in pre-Roman and R ...

, the primitive territories of Castile. The given name became popular in the Basque area after the 1877 novel . In 1939, according to the

language politics of Francoist Spain During the dictatorship of Francisco Franco from 1939 to 1975, policies were implemented in an attempt to increase the dominance of the Spanish language, also known as Castilian, over the other languages of Spain. Franco's regime had Spanish na ...

, women named had to change their names to ("Mary End"). In the 1970s, the reasons for prohibition were that it could lead to confusion about gender. It went against good behavior and it was a

Gipsy The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with s ...

surname. A Japanese surname of unrelated origin also exists, "usually written with characters meaning 'heavenly valley'". Notable people with the name Amaya, as derived from its Spanish origin, include:

Amaya

Amaya Uranga Amaya Uranga Amezaga (born 18 February 1947) is a Spanish singer from Bilbao, best known for the 15 years she spent as a member of the Basque folk/pop sextet Mocedades. She is a cousin of director Pablo Berger. Biography Uranga formed Moc ...

(born 1947), Spanish singer, member of the Basque folk/pop sextet

Mocedades Mocedades () is a Spanish singing group from the Basque Country, who represented Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1973 with the hit song "Eres Tú". Since June 2014, ''Mocedades'' has been the name of two bands: one with Izaskun Uranga ...

Amaya Salazar Amaya Salazar (born 1951, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) is a Dominican artist and painter. She known for her faceless personas that inhabit mystical and magical environments where light and the Antillean flora are present. Biography A ...

(born 1951), Dominican artist *

Amaya Arzuaga Amaya Arzuaga (born in Lerma ( Burgos), in 1970), is a Spanish designer. She studied in the UPM and in 1992 she finished Fashion Design and joined her parents' enterprise, Elipse. In 1994, she created her own firm. She sells and shows her ...

(born 1970), Spanish fashion designer *

Amaya Garbayo Amaya Garbayo (born 26 March 1970) is a Spanish former swimmer who competed in the 1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Se ...

(born 1970), Spanish swimmer *

Amaya Forch Amaya Forch Barry (born 5 March 1972) is a Chilean actress and pop singer known for making appearances on various Chilean television programs. After playing in a number of television and theatre productions, Forch began to venture into singin ...

(born 1972), Chilean actress and pop singer *

Amaya Valdemoro Amaya Valdemoro Madariaga (born August 18, 1976, in Alcobendas, Community of Madrid) is a Spanish former basketball player. She won three Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) championship rings with the Houston Comets, one EuroLeague ...

(born 1976), Spanish basketball player *

Amaya Gastaminza Amaya Gastaminza Ganuza (born 27 February 1991) is a Spanish professional basketball player. She plays for Hondarribia-Irún and Spain women's national basketball team. She has represented several junior teams in European competitions. She won ...

(born 1991), Spanish basketball player *

Amaya Alonso Amaya Alonso Álvarez (born 12 January 1989) is a Spanish Paralympic swimmer who has represented her counter at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Paralympics. Personal Alonso was born in 1989 in Valladolid. She has almost no vision in her right eye, ...

(born 1989), Spanish swimmer *

Maja Keuc Maja can refer to: Places * Maja, Croatia, a village * Maja, Banten, a subdistrict in Lebak Regency, Banten, Indonesia ** Maja railway station * Maja, West Java, a subdistrict in Majalengka Regency, West Java, Indonesia * Maja River, a tribut ...

(born 1992), Slovenian singer known as Amaya *

Amaya Coppens Amaya Eva Coppens Zamora (born 1994) is a Nicaraguan Belgian student activist. She is a leading figure of the April 19 University Movement, founded during protests against the government of President Daniel Ortega. She was chosen as an Internation ...

(born 1994) Nicaraguan student activist

Amaia

Amaia Andrés Amaia Andrés Berakoetxea (born 26 June 1966 in San Sebastián) is a retired Spanish middle-distance runner who competed primarily in the 800 metres. She represented her country at the 1992 Summer Olympics, and twice at both the IAAF World In ...

(born 1966), Spanish middle-distance runner *

Amaia Piedra Amaia Piedra (born 2 June 1972 in Bilbao) is a retired Spanish athlete who specialized in long-distance running. She finished ninth over 3000 metres at the 2003 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Birmingham in an indoor personal best time of 8:5 ...

(born 1972), Spanish athlete who specialized in long-distance running *

Amaia Montero Amaia Montero Saldías (; born 26 August 1976) is a Spanish singer and songwriter mainly known as the former vocalist of the Spanish pop-band La Oreja de Van Gogh between 1996 and 2007. Amaia has sung in a variety of languages, including Basqu ...

(born 1976), Spanish Basque singer/songwriter, formerly part of the Spanish pop-band La Oreja de Van Gogh *

Amaia Olabarrieta Amaia Olabarrieta Elordui (born 28 July 1982) is a Spanish former footballer who played for Athletic Bilbao and the Spain national team. An anterior cruciate ligament injury sustained in March 2014 eventually brought about Olabarrieta's retireme ...

(born 1982), Spanish football player *

Amaia Salamanca Amaia Salamanca Urízar (born 28 March 1986) is a Spanish actress, best known for her role as Catalina Marcos in the Spanish version of the Colombian TV series ''Sin tetas no hay paraíso'' and as Alicia Alarcón in series '' Gran Hotel''. Bio ...

(born 1986), Spanish actress *

Amaia González de Garibay Amaia González de Garibay (born 27 February 1994) is a Spanish handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalk ...

(born 1994), Spanish handball player *

Amaia Erbina Amaia Erbina (born 13 March 1997) is a Spanish rugby sevens player. She was selected for the Spanish sevens team for the 2016 Summer Olympics. She was also part of the squad that won the 2016 Women's Rugby Sevens Final Olympic Qualification To ...

(born 1997), Spanish rugby sevens player * Amaia Peña (born 1998), Spanish footballer *

Amaia Romero Amaia Romero Arbizu (born 3 January 1999), better known as Amaia, is a Spanish singer-songwriter and pianist. After participating in many talent shows, she gained national recognition after winning series nine of musical television contest '' ...

(born 1999), Spanish singer, representing Spain in Eurovision Song Contest 2018 as a duo Amaia y Alfred

References

{{given name, type=both Feminine given names Spanish feminine given names

Amaia Amaya is a female given name and surname of Spanish origins, derived from the village of Amaya and its neighboring mountain in Castile and León, Spain.Patrick Hanks, ''Dictionary of American Family Names'' (2003), p. 32. The name of the village, ...

Amaya

Amaia

See also

References