Head to head · Girls' names
Maia vs Salem
#433 vs #435 in 2025
Maia is a whisker ahead (#433 vs #435 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Maia is holding its place on the charts, Salem is climbing the charts fast. On momentum, Salem has the edge.
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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, Maia leads 4 measures of 6; Salem 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
- 1950s: Maia #4921, Salem — — Maia higher
- 1960s: Maia #2821, Salem — — Maia higher
- 1970s: Maia #1560, Salem #6662 — Maia higher
- 1980s: Maia #1682, Salem #6821 — Maia higher
- 1990s: Maia #1106, Salem #5473 — Maia higher
- 2000s: Maia #567, Salem #2948 — Maia higher
- 2010s: Maia #592, Salem #1684 — Maia higher
- 2020s: Maia #451, Salem #474 — Maia higher
Maia stood higher in every recorded decade — 8 of 8.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Maia | Salem |
|---|---|---|
| 1950s | #4921 | — |
| 1960s | #2821 | — |
| 1970s | #1560 | #6662 |
| 1980s | #1682 | #6821 |
| 1990s | #1106 | #5473 |
| 2000s | #567 | #2948 |
| 2010s | #592 | #1684 |
| 2020s | #451 | #474 |
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
Maia
mother, nurse, midwife (Greek); also linked to growth and the month of May
In ancient Greek, maia was a respectful word for a mother, nurse or midwife, and that is the reading behind the mythological Maia of the Pleiades. Roman tradition attached the name to the month of Maius and to a goddess of growth, tying it to the Latin root for increase. A third road matters in American use: the spelling Maia often stands in for Maya, which has its own separate sources — Sanskrit maya and a Hebrew name connected with water. Same four sounds, different family trees.
Μαῖα (Greek) → Maia (Latin) → Maja → Maia
How it traveled
The name is first securely Greek: Μαῖα, borne by the eldest of the Pleiades, and used in ordinary speech as a courteous term for a nurse or mother. Latin took it up as Maia, where Roman writers such as Ovid linked it to the month of Maius and to a goddess associated with growing things.
Salem
peace, whole, safe
From the Semitic root s-l-m, which gives Hebrew shalem 'complete, whole' and shalom 'peace', and Arabic salām 'peace' with sālim 'safe, sound'. The biblical Salem of Genesis 14 was understood by later Jewish and Christian writers as Jerusalem.
Shalem → Salēm → Salem
How it traveled
Salem begins as a place: the city whose king Melchizedek meets Abraham in Genesis, a name Greek and Latin translators of the Hebrew Bible passed on unchanged. English readers of scripture knew it for centuries before Puritan colonists in Massachusetts chose it for a settlement in the 1620s, and later Americans repeated it across the map — Salem in Oregon, Winston-Salem in North Carolina, New Salem in Illinois.
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
Maia
MY-ah
MY-ah is the usual American reading. MAY-ah is also heard, closer to the Latin and to the month of May, and both are correct — which does mean the name will occasionally be said the other way and need a gentle correction.
- Mai — The most natural clipping; used informally, and a standalone given name in several Asian languages.
- May — Informal, and an established given name in its own right in English.
- Mae — Same sound as May, spelled the American way; also common as a middle name.
- Maimai — A reduplicated family nickname of the kind small children get, rarely used past childhood.
Salem
SAY-lum
Stress on the first syllable, matching the American cities. The Arabic name spelled the same way is said sah-LEEM, with the stress on the second syllable — worth deciding which you mean if your family uses both.
- Sal — The obvious one-syllable shortening; also long used on its own for Sally and Salvatore, so it reads as a nickname rather than a full name.
- Sale — Occasional informal clipping within families; rarely written down.
- Lem — Rare, back-clipped from the second syllable; used more as a household name than in public.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Maia if you want…
- a name holding steadyMaia is holding its place on the charts
Choose Salem if you want…
- a name on the way upup 173 places on the charts in five years
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
Maia
Strengths
- Short, phonetic and easy to write early: four letters, no silent parts, no double consonants.
- A documented record stretching from ancient Greek through Latin into modern European use — nothing about it is newly minted.
- Works in several languages with only a change of spelling: Maja, Майя, Maia.
To consider
- The Maya spelling is far better known in the US, so Maia will be written the other way often — on forms, in emails, on birthday cards. Most people with this spelling settle into a habit of saying "Maia, with an i" for life.
- Two live pronunciations, MY-ah and MAY-ah, means she may hear both from teachers and new acquaintances until she corrects them.
- There is also crossover with Mia and Maria in ordinary conversation, since all three share their opening sounds; expect the occasional mishearing over the phone.
Salem
Strengths
- Spelled the way Americans already read it, thanks to Salem, Oregon and Winston-Salem — little correcting, little repeating.
- Two syllables, one stress, no silent letters; it survives being shouted across a playground.
- Used for boys and girls in US records, so the spelling carries either child without adjustment.
To consider
- The Salem witch trials of 1692 are the first thing many Americans think of, and the talking cat in Sabrina the Teenage Witch is the second. Both associations are Halloween-tinted rather than dark, but they are there for life.
- It leans toward girls in US records without settling there, and boys named Salem are the smaller group. Either child may meet an assumption about which one they are before anyone sees them.
- The name has been climbing steadily and recently. A Salem starting school now will likely be the only one, but that is less certain by the time they finish it.
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 Maia and Salem 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 Maia and Salem?
Put both to the vote.
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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
- Names far more common than their rank admits
- Goddess and muse names
- Borrowed from the boys: names girls are winning
- Place names on the map and the birth certificate
- all guides
Where Maia and Salem each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Maia or Salem — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Maia or Salem?
- Maia, in 2025: Maia ranked #433 with 715 babies; Salem ranked #435 with 711 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Maia or Salem?
- Salem. Over the last five years Maia moved up 64 places; Salem moved up 173 places.
- Which is the older name, Maia or Salem?
- Maia entered the US charts in 1950; Salem entered the US charts in 1976. On the American record, Maia is the older name.
- How many people are named Maia and Salem?
- About 18,000 people named Maia are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 6,500 people named Salem are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Maias or Salems in the classroom?
- Maia will almost certainly be the only one in school. Salem 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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