WHAT IS 'MAIA DANU'?

My clients often ask me what the name means.  It seems to hold a certain intrigue for people.  When I started my business in 2006, I searched for a name that would reflect my work ethic and fit my personality and more importantly, the deeper identity within.

I had recently acquired my first grandchild and the question arose as to what I would like to be called.  I wanted something different from the usual ‘Granny’ or ‘Nana’, and came up with Maia, which is associated with ‘Mother’, ‘Nurturer’ or ‘Nurse’.  I liked the softly flowing sound of it.   With my strong, fierce inborn maternal instincts, I felt this was a good fit.  So I became Maia to my grandchildren and also to many of my clients.  

In Roman mythology Maia was the goddess of spring growth (the source of the month May).  Maia embodied the concept of growth, also meaning ‘larger, greater’.  In Greek mythology Maia is the daughter of Atlas and Pleione and Mother of Hermes.  She was the eldest of the Pleiades (the brightest star in the Pleiades).  In Hebrew Maia  means ‘Close to God’.  

The concepts of the Mother, the Nurturer, New Growth, Brightest Star and Close to God resonates with me.

 

Hermes and Maia, detail from an Attic red-figure amphora (c. 500 BC)

 Vulcan and Maia (1585) by Bartholomaus Spranger

The name Danu similarly has maternal connections and has several sources – one being from Irish mythology, where Danu or Dana is the mother goddess of the Tuatha Dé Danann (the peoples of the goddess Danu). She represents the fullness and fruitfulness of the earth.   In Vedic mythology Danu is a water goddess, whose name is derived from the Proto-Indo-European root ‘to run, to flow’, which is believed to be behind the name of the river Danube.  Danu is connected with the waters of heavens and she is probably associated with the formless, primordial waters that existed prior to the creation.  Danu is also an ancient Scythian word meaning ‘river’. 

Once again, the similar connotations of the mother, fullness, fruitfulness of the earth, all appeal to me and in addition, the flowing of the river strongly identifies the essence of my being.