Anaya

Anaya flows in from two distinct traditions. In Sanskrit and Hindi it suggests caring, guidance, or without a superior; in Arabic it can relate to care or solicitude; as a Spanish surname it marks a region of Castile. For many American parents the name arrives less loaded with specific meaning and more carried by its shape, three gentle A's with soft consonants stitching them together. Ranked 405 in the U.S., it rides the current taste for vowel-forward names such as Amaya and Anaïs. The y glides rather than grips. Smooth, warm, a name that sounds like a hand on the back of a neck.