Moya
Feminine · “An Irish form of Mary”
Moya is an Irish form of Mary, short and soft, and it belongs to the singer whose voice defined the sound of Clannad. Two syllables, easy in any language.
How old is the name Moya?
Moya first appears in US birth records in 1923 — 102 years ago. The typical Moya alive today was born around 1982, making them about 43 years old. About 600 people named Moya are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Moya most popular?
Moya peaked in 1954, reaching #3157 nationally. See the whole 1954 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Maria to Moya
The story of Moya
Máire, the Irish Mary, was anglicized several ways — Maura, Moira, Moya — and Moya became a given name of its own in Ireland in the twentieth century. Moya Brennan, born Máire, sang with Clannad, the band she formed with her brothers and uncles in Gweedore, County Donegal, in 1970; their theme for the television drama Harry's Game was the first song sung in Irish to reach the British top five, and their sister Enya began in the band before going solo. In America Moya has been used since the early twentieth century.
Meaningscholars disagree
An Irish form of Mary, or the Spanish surname Moya
Moya is used in Ireland as an anglicized form of Máire, Mary. Moya is also a Spanish surname from a town in Cuenca. The record does not say which road an American Moya took.
How the name formed
- Maria
- Máire
- Moya
Related forms: Máire · Moira · Mary
Pronouncing Moya
MOY-uh
Two syllables with the stress on the first.
Nicknames for Moya
Limited
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1923
- Most girls named
- 200116 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3157reached in 1954
- Change vs 2017
- −28.6%5 in 2021, from 7
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Moya in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Máire in Irish — related form
- Moira in English — related form
- Mary in English — related form
Moyas among us
people named Moya are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Moya sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Short and easy to say.
- Rooted in the Irish form of Mary.
- Rare, so a Moya is unlikely to share her name.
- People may hear Maya or Moira.
- Russian speakers will hear 'my' (feminine), which some families like.
- Its two possible sources give a two-part answer to 'what does it mean'.
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Moya
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Moyas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Moya are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Moya in 2025?
- Moya is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Moya with classmates?
- Moya will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More M names
The most-given names starting with M, all years combined.
Mary#125 · Margaret#112 · Michelle#465 · Melissa#419 · Maria#87 · Martha#712 · Marie#617 · Mildred#1962
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Moya? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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