Amaya surname meaning

Amaya is chiefly a Basque habitational surname from the village of Amaya in the province of Burgos, in an area where Basque was still spoken in the early Middle Ages. DAFN derives the place-name from a Castilianized form of Basque amai, “end,” plus the definite article -a. A separate Japanese surname Amaya (often 天谷, “heavenly valley”) exists but is a distinct tradition. Place is high confidence for the Burgos habitational origin that accounts for most Hispanic Amaya families in US Census data; the Japanese name is a minority look-alike under the same romanization.