Maja

Maja is a feminine given name used in many European and Hispanic cultures. It is often a variant of Maia or Maria and is frequently used as an independent name in its own right. In several languages, Maja is a standard spelling, with variations arising from different alphabets and diacritic marks. It is particularly common in Scandinavian and Slavic countries, as well as in Spain and parts of Latin America.

Etymology commonly traces the name to Maia, a Greek goddess and one of the Pleiades, or to Maria, the Latin form of Mary. As a result, Maja can carry associations with purity, motherhood, or classical myth, depending on the cultural context. The spelling Maja is widely used across languages such as Swedish, Croatian, Slovenian, and Polish, among others.

In culture and history, the term maja refers to a fashionable, self-assured urban woman in 19th-century Madrid, associated with a distinctive style of dress and social behavior. The concept is famously illustrated in Francisco Goya’s paintings La Maja Desnuda and La Maja Vestida, which depict a maja in two states of dress.

In biology, Maja is a genus of crabs in the family Majidae, commonly known as spider crabs. Species within this genus include Maja squinado, a well-known European spider crab.

Today, the name Maja remains popular in multiple regions and languages. See also Maia and Maria for related forms and variants.