I was realizing this later - that Raia would more appropriately be pronounced RAH-ya - similar to
Gaia.
My only problem with
Raya is I have a beef with y's and try to avoid them at all costs in names. To me they just scream trend.
Perhaps Reia would be closer to what I'm aiming for?
At one time I liked
Ariana, but in the past year alone I've met 6 little ones given this name. Not to mention I have a few second cousins on both sides with this name, it's gotten to the point where it's kind of sickeningly cutesy now. It seems almost like a filler first name of this generation. Then I was introduced to
Ariadne on the history channel and fell in love with the name and history haha.
Thanks a lot for your input it really helped!