Aiaia

AY-ah-yah; AY-ay-yah; EYE-eye-uh

Greek, place name

"island belonging to Circe; belonging to the bird"

Aiaia Origin and Meaning

The name Aiaia is a girl's name meaning "island belonging to Circe; belonging to the bird".

Also spelled as Aeaea or Ææa, this is the name of a mythological Greek island, home to the goddess and sorceress Circe. It appears in Homer's The Odyssey, with Odysseus staying there for a year on his way back to Ithaca, after Circe turned his crew into swine.

The name itself maybe constructed of the elements aíwa meaning "related to the bird" and -ĭ́ā, meaning "pertaining or belonging to", which may be interpreted more figuaritively as "belonging to Circe", given that Circe means "bird", or more specifically, "hawk" or "falcon".

Modern readers may also recognize it from Madeline Miller's popular novel, Circe, an adaptation of various Greek myths, told from and focused on Circe's perspective.