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Girl · Hebrew, through Greek and Latin
Mary
Say it: MAIR-ee
Meaning
From Hebrew Miryam, through Greek and Latin Maria; the meaning is uncertain, with many proposals and none settled.
Uncertainseveral explanations, none settled.
Relatively uncommon in medieval England, it became one of the commonest English names from the 16th century onward.
Its wave through time
Fading since the 1890s
In the United States
- 4,145,486 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 1891, about 1 in 16 girls
- 2,193 babies in 2020
Through the ages
- The Biblical WorldAbout 1200 BC to AD 100
- The Early Middle Ages400 to 800
- The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
- The Renaissance1400 to 1600
- The Colonial Americas1500 to 1800
- The Age of Revolutions1750 to 1837
- Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
- The Modern Age1880 to today
Used by
HebrewEarly ChristianEnglishIrishFrenchSpanishItalianPortugueseGermanPolishRussianScottishWelshAmerican
The family of the name
Other spellings: Marie, Maria, Mariah, Marye, Mari, Marey
| French | Marie |
|---|---|
| Spanish | María |
| Italian | Maria |
| Portuguese | Maria |
| German | Maria |
| Polish | Maria |
| Russian | Mariya |
| Irish | Máire |
Famous bearers
- Mary, mother of Jesus
- Mary Magdalene, follower of Jesus
- Mary I, queen of England
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- The Hebrew Bible and the New Testament
- Parish baptism registers
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
- Royal and noble genealogies
- Calendars of saints and name days
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.