The authors differ as to the origin of the surname. E. Rossoni notes that it could derive, directly or through hypocoristics, from the name Maia, the name of an ancient Roman goddess of fertility and of the awakening of nature in spring. From the geographical point of view, Rossoni places this surname in areas of Liguria, Piedmont and Lombardy, with a scattered presence in the Ferrara area, as well as presences in the Naples area and in that of Palermo.

F. De Laurentiis, by contrast, considers it a phonetic variant of Maier, widespread in north-eastern Italy, in the regions of Veneto, Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Trentino-Alto Adige, and formed from Meier, a term designating the steward or tenant of an agricultural property and which, in former times, also meant "mayor".

Given the divergence between the two proposals, the surname shows independent origins in different regions of Italy, with etymologies that are not mutually exclusive.