Head to head · Girls' names
Amaya vs Sutton
#180 vs #181 in 2025
Amaya is a whisker ahead (#180 vs #181 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Amaya is stepping back from its peak, Sutton is climbing the charts fast. On momentum, Sutton has the edge.
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, Amaya leads 4 measures of 6; Sutton 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 —, Sutton #4375 — Sutton higher
- 1970s: Amaya #7840, Sutton #7145 — Sutton higher
- 1980s: Amaya #6714, Sutton #9213 — Amaya higher
- 1990s: Amaya #3612, Sutton #7021 — Amaya higher
- 2000s: Amaya #221, Sutton #3882 — Amaya higher
- 2010s: Amaya #197, Sutton #1125 — Amaya higher
- 2020s: Amaya #163, Sutton #228 — Amaya higher
Amaya stood higher in 5 of 7 decades; Amaya has held the lead since the 1980s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Amaya | Sutton |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | — | #4375 |
| 1970s | #7840 | #7145 |
| 1980s | #6714 | #9213 |
| 1990s | #3612 | #7021 |
| 2000s | #221 | #3882 |
| 2010s | #197 | #1125 |
| 2020s | #163 | #228 |
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.
Sutton
southern farmstead or settlement
From Old English sūth (south) and tūn (enclosure, farmstead, village) — the same tūn that ended up as the modern word town.
sūth tūn (Old English) → Sutton (English place name) → Sutton (English surname) → Sutton (given name)
How it traveled
Sutton is one of the most-repeated place names in England, because it described something ordinary: the farm or hamlet lying to the south of somewhere else. Dozens of separate villages carried it by the time of the Domesday survey in the eleventh century, and families who left those villages were identified by them, which is why the surname arose independently in many unconnected lines.
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.
Sutton
SUT-un
Stress on the first syllable. In most American speech the double t becomes a light tap, close to SUH-tun; the spelling gives no trouble either way.
- Sutt — Informal clipped form used within families and among friends; not established as a name on its own.
- Sutty — Affectionate childhood form; rarely survives into adulthood.
Who has carried each name
Amaya
No documented entry for Amaya yet.
Sutton
Sutton Foster (b. 1975) — Two-time Tony-winning Broadway star
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
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 more sound in itAmaya runs 3 syllables, Sutton 2
- plenty of nickname options4 recorded short forms — Maya, Aya and Ama
Choose Sutton if you want…
- a name on the way upup 142 places on the charts in five years
- a name with fewer syllablesSutton is 2 syllables to Amaya's 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.
Sutton
Strengths
- Spelled the way it sounds and sounds the way it is spelled — no correcting needed at a coffee counter or a doctor's office.
- A spelling already familiar from maps, surnames and roadside signs, so it reads as a real name rather than an invention.
- Documented in English continuously since before the Norman Conquest, first as a place, then a surname, now a given name.
To consider
- It is climbing quickly, and quickly is the operative word: a name that feels distinctive at birth can be noticeably more familiar by the time a child reaches school. Worth knowing now rather than being surprised by later.
- Surname-names get read as surnames. Expect forms filled in the wrong order, and roll calls that reach for a first name that isn't there.
- The girls' side is currently the busier one, so a boy named Sutton may meet the occasional assumption in the other direction — easily corrected, but it will happen.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Amaya
40%chance Amaya feels dated by 2040
Amaya sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
Sutton
56%chance Sutton feels dated by 2040
Sutton is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
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 Sutton in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Amaya and Sutton?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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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
- Southern charm: names the South loves best
- Names at their all-time peak, right now
- Borrowed from the boys: names girls are winning
- all guides
Where Amaya and Sutton each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Amaya or Sutton — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Amaya or Sutton?
- Amaya, in 2025: Amaya ranked #180 with 1,723 babies; Sutton ranked #181 with 1,697 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Amaya or Sutton?
- Sutton. Over the last five years Amaya moved down 41 places; Sutton moved up 142 places.
- Which is the older name, Amaya or Sutton?
- Amaya entered the US charts in 1972; Sutton entered the US charts in 1963. On the American record, Sutton is the older name.
- How many people are named Amaya and Sutton?
- About 43,000 people named Amaya are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 12,500 people named Sutton are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Amayas or Suttons in the classroom?
- Amaya will almost certainly be the only one in school. Sutton 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
Keep playing
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