Girl · Hebrew
Miriam
Say it: MIR-ee-um
Meaning
Uncertain. Proposals include an Egyptian word mry 'beloved' and Hebrew roots meaning 'bitter' or 'rebellion'; the 'wished-for child' meaning on many lists is unsupported.
Uncertainseveral explanations, none settled.
Long used by Jewish families and taken up more widely by English speakers in the 19th century.
Its wave through time
Timeless: in steady use for over a century
In the United States
- 111,851 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 1917, about 1 in 670 girls
- 1,121 babies in 2020
Through the ages
- The Biblical WorldAbout 1200 BC to AD 100
- Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
- The Modern Age1880 to today
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Miryam, Mirjam
| French | Myriam |
|---|---|
| Spanish | Miriam |
| Italian | Miriam |
| German | Mirjam |
| Dutch | Mirjam |
| Polish | Miriam |
| Hebrew | Miryam |
Famous bearers
- Miriam, sister of Moses and Aaron in Exodus
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- The Hebrew Bible and the New Testament
- National birth statistics of European countries source
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
- 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.