Maria (given name)

Maria is a female given name in many diverse languages, including the African, Arab, Armenian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, German, Greek, Spanish, Icelandic, Indonesian, Iranic, Italian, Japanese, Maltese, Norwegian, Pakistani, Philippine, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Swedish, and Ukrainian.

Contents

• Religious
• Nobility
• Artists
• Authors
• Scientists
• Actresses
• Singersbands
• Sports
• Music
• Models
• Politicians and political activists
• Television hosts
• As male middle name
• As female middle name
• Usage
• Variants including short forms and diminutives
• References

In the Roman Empire, the name was used as a feminine form of the Roman name Marius (see Maria (gens)). It became popular with the spread of Christianity as a Latinized form of the Hebrew name of Jesus' mother Mary (Miriam in Hebrew or Maryam in Aramaic). As a result of their similarity and syncretism, the Latin original name Maria and the Hebrew-derived Maria combined to form a single name. The meaning of the Semitic-rooted name is uncertain, but it may originally be an Egyptian name, probably derived from mry "beloved" or mr "love" ("eminent lady" or "beloved lady"). The meaning of the Latin-rooted name is similarly ambiguous, possibly deriving from mare ("sea" in Latin), maris ("male"), or the name of the god Mars.

The name is also sometimes used as a male (middle) name. This was historically the case in many Central European countries and still is the case in countries with strong Catholic traditions, where it signified patronage of the Virgin Mary (French-speakers often did the same with Marie).

As a first name, Maria ranked seventh out of 4,275 for females of all ages in the 1990 U.S. Census. Because of its enduring popularity, the name is used extensively in society and media throughout the world.