Gaia

Where Gaia comes from

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Γαῖᾰ (Gaîă, “Gaea, the Earth personified as a goddess”), from γαῖᾰ (gaîă, “the Earth”), probably related to γῆ (gê, “earth, land; country”). Sense 1 was coined by the British scientist, environmentalist, and futurist James Lovelock (1919–2022) in his book Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth (1979), at the suggestion of the British novelist, playwright, and poet William Golding (1911–1993): see the quotation.
— Wiktionary's entry for Gaia
  • 2 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1980
    First appearance
    #9,095 among girls, 6 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 2023
    Peak, #1,120
    219 babies named Gaia — more than any year before or since.
In the dictionary
  • A female given name inspired by Mother Earth.
Namesakes

We look up famous namesakes for names that have made the top 1,000. Gaia hasn't yet.

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.