Head to head · Girls' names
Amaya vs Ariella
#180 vs #174 in 2025
Ariella is a whisker ahead (#174 vs #180 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Ariella is holding its place on the charts, Amaya is stepping back from its peak.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Ariella leads 3 measures of 6; Amaya leads 2.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1960s: Amaya —, Ariella #6008 — Ariella higher
- 1970s: Amaya #7840, Ariella #4435 — Ariella higher
- 1980s: Amaya #6714, Ariella #2386 — Ariella higher
- 1990s: Amaya #3612, Ariella #1373 — Ariella higher
- 2000s: Amaya #221, Ariella #1202 — Amaya higher
- 2010s: Amaya #197, Ariella #424 — Amaya higher
- 2020s: Amaya #163, Ariella #177 — Amaya higher
Ariella stood higher in 4 of 7 decades; Amaya has held the lead since the 2000s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Amaya | Ariella |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | — | #6008 |
| 1970s | #7840 | #4435 |
| 1980s | #6714 | #2386 |
| 1990s | #3612 | #1373 |
| 2000s | #221 | #1202 |
| 2010s | #197 | #424 |
| 2020s | #163 | #177 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Amaya
Either "the end" in Basque, or the Castilian place name Amaya
Two serious readings compete. In Basque, amaia means "the end," and Amaia is a well-established given name there. Separately, Amaya is the name of Peña Amaya, a hill and ancient stronghold in the province of Burgos, whose own name is pre-Roman and has never been convincingly translated. A Japanese surname romanized as Amaya also exists, written with several different character combinations, so no single meaning attaches to it either.
Amaya (hill and stronghold, Burgos) → Amaya (Castilian surname) → Amaia (Basque given name) → Amaya (given name)
How it traveled
Peña Amaya, a high rocky outcrop in northern Burgos, was a Cantabrian stronghold before Rome took the region, and later a seat under the Visigoths; the surname Amaya spread from that place through Castile and, in time, across the Spanish-speaking world. The name's life as a girl's given name owes much to the Basque Country, where Amaia became current after the nineteenth-century Spanish novelist Francisco Navarro Villoslada published his historical novel Amaya, set in the eighth century.
Ariella
lion of God
The Hebrew root ari (lion) plus El (God) gives the accepted reading. Separately, the same consonants appear in Ezekiel describing the altar hearth of the temple, which some scholars read as a second, unrelated sense of the word — but the name itself is understood as 'lion of God'.
Ari'el (Hebrew) → Ariel → Ariela → Ariella
How it traveled
Ariel is Hebrew, and it appears in scripture in two ways: as a name Isaiah gives to Jerusalem, and as one of the men Ezra sends as an envoy. For most of its history it was a masculine name, and in modern Hebrew it still is — Ariela and Ariella arose as the feminine forms, built the way Hebrew regularly makes a woman's name from a man's.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Amaya
uh-MY-uh
That is the usual American reading. In Spanish and Basque it is ah-MAH-ya, with a fuller first vowel and the y as in "yes." Both are correct for their setting, and bilingual families often use each in its own language.
- Maya — The most common short form in English, and a widely used given name in its own right, which can blur the two.
- Aya — Informal, drawn from the last two syllables; also a standalone given name in Japanese and Arabic.
- Ama — Family-level shortening, mostly used by parents and siblings rather than outside the house.
- Amy — An English-sounding reduction some bearers adopt at school or work; unrelated in origin to Amaya.
Ariella
ar-ee-ELL-ah
The stress sits on the third syllable. Hebrew speakers say it closer to ah-ree-EL-ah; both are current in the US, and the first syllable rhyming with 'air' is also widely heard.
- Ari — The most common short form; also used independently for boys and girls, and standard in Israel.
- Ella — Drawn from the ending; a well-established given name in its own right.
- Ariel — The parent name, used as a familiar form; carried by men and women depending on the language.
- Elle — A trimmer version of Ella, informal.
- Also Riri.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Amaya if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsAmaya is stepping back from its peak
- a name with fewer syllablesAmaya is 3 syllables to Ariella's 4
Choose Ariella if you want…
- a name with more sound in itAriella runs 4 syllables, Amaya 3
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Amaya
Strengths
- Reads correctly on sight for most English speakers — no silent letters, no ambiguous consonants.
- Works in both English and Spanish without changing spelling, which matters in bilingual households.
- Comes with ready-made short forms, Maya above all, so a child has options without inventing one.
To consider
- Two pronunciations coexist: uh-MY-uh in most English-speaking settings, ah-MAH-ya in Spanish and Basque. Families that speak both will hear their child's name said two ways, which is manageable but worth deciding on early.
- It sits in a crowded spelling neighborhood — Amaia, Amayah, Amiyah, Amara, Amira — so expect to spell it aloud fairly often, even to people who already know how to say it.
- The best-known Basque reading is "the end," which some relatives will find striking and some will ask about. The Castilian place-name origin is the other honest answer.
Ariella
Strengths
- Two ready-made short forms, Ari and Ella, both already familiar to English speakers and neither needing explanation.
- A documented line back to the Hebrew Bible, which few modern-sounding girls' names can claim.
- Works across Hebrew, Italian, Spanish, French and English with only small changes to spelling or stress.
To consider
- Ariella, Ariela, Arielle and Ariel all circulate, so she will likely spell it out for people who have heard the sound but not seen the page. The double-L version is the most common in the US, which helps.
- For many people Ariel means the Disney mermaid first, and Ariella sits close enough to catch some of that. It fades as a child grows, but it will come up early.
- Ari is the short form most likely to stick, and it is used for boys too — worth knowing if you would rather the full name stayed in daily use.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Amaya and Ariella in full.
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Decide together
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More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
- Five-letter names, the comfortable middle
- Four-syllable names that carry
- Seven-letter names, ranked by real use
- Names with a double letter
- all guides
Where Amaya and Ariella each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Amaya or Ariella — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Amaya or Ariella?
- Ariella, in 2025: Ariella ranked #174 with 1,756 babies; Amaya ranked #180 with 1,723 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Amaya or Ariella?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Amaya moved down 41 places; Ariella moved down 20 places.
- Which is the older name, Amaya or Ariella?
- Amaya entered the US charts in 1972; Ariella entered the US charts in 1967. On the American record, Ariella is the older name.
- How many people are named Amaya and Ariella?
- About 43,000 people named Amaya are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 22,000 people named Ariella are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Amayas or Ariellas in the classroom?
- Amaya will almost certainly be the only one in school. Ariella will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
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