Mya

A modern spelling of Maia or Maya, tracing back to the Greek mythological mother of Hermes and the Sanskrit word for illusion. In American record books, it spent decades in near obscurity before catching on rapidly in the late 1990s as pop radio popularized short, phonetic names. It broke into the top one hundred during the late 2000s.

The name belongs almost entirely to teenagers and young adults. Hearing it called across a room suggests someone born in the era of iPod Nanos, glitter gel pens, and early YouTube. It arrived quickly, did its job without punctuation, and stayed light on its feet. The average holder is seventeen years old and has likely never encountered a paper road map.