Maria

Borrowed from Latin Maria, borrowed from Ancient Greek Μᾰρῐ́ᾱ (Mărĭ́ā), borrowed from Aramaic מרים (maryam), borrowed from Biblical Hebrew מִרְיָם (miryɔm). Doublet of Mary, Marie, and Miriam.

• (usually) IPA^(key): /məˈɹiːə/
• (also especially the variant "Mariah") IPA^(key): /məˈɹaɪə/
• Rhymes: -iːə, -aɪə

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Maria

1. A female given name from Hebrew.
   • 1629, Thomas Adams, Meditations upon Creed, The Works of Thomas Adams, James Nichol (1862), volume 3, page 211:

     Yet herein they come short of the monks and friars in their conceits of the word Maria; they have so tossed it and turned it, so anagrammatized and transposed it, that never were five poor letters so worried since time did put them into the alphabet.

   • 1776, Adam Fitz-Adam: The World of Adam Fitz-Adam. Edinburgh, Apollo Press 1776: Numb. 187. Thursday, July 29, 1756:

     By their dresses, their names, and the airs of quality they give themselves, I am rendered ridiculous among all my acquaintance. My wife, who is a very plain good woman, and whose name is Amey, has been new-christened, and is called Amelia; and my little daughter, a child of a year old, is no longer Polly, but Maria.

   • 1957, “Maria”, in Stephen Sondheim (lyrics), Leonard Bernstein (music), West Side Story:

     I've just kissed a girl named Maria / And suddenly I found how wonderful a sound can be! / Maria! Say it loud and there's music playing / Say it soft and it's almost like praying

   • 2025 September 19, Alisha Ebrahimji, Emma Tucker, “Chicago-area mayor says federal agents teargassed him at a protest outside an ICE facility”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     CNN anchor and correspondent Maria Santana was reporting from the scene when she and her team were hit by pepper balls and tear gas that officers fired into the crowd. “At that time, I can tell you, it is very hard to breathe, very hard to talk, your eyes begin to water,” she reported.

2. Synonym of Mary, mother of Jesus, in Latin, Spanish, etc. contexts.
3. A surname originating as a matronymic.

• According to
  2024, “national data”, in Popular Baby Names‎^[2] (dataset names.zip), US Social Security Administration, archived from the original on 2024-3-10:
  , Maria is the 91^st most common female given name for US births in 2022. According to the 2010 United States Census, Maria is the 7395^th most common surname in the United States, belonging to 4500 individuals. Maria is most common among Hispanic/Latino (58.20%) and White (31.93%) individuals.

Maria

1. A Dravidian language spoken in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh provinces in India.

• Abujmaria

• ISO 639-3 code mrr (SIL)
• Ethnologue entry for Maria (India), mrr ⁠

Maria

1. A Papuan language spoken in Papua New Guinea.

• ISO 639-3 code mds (SIL)
• Ethnologue entry for Maria (New Guinea), mds ⁠

• ARIMA, Amari, Amira, amari, amira, marai, miraa

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [məˈɾi.ə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [maˈɾi.a]

Maria f

1. a female given name, equivalent to English Mary
2. Mary (biblical character)

From Spanish María.

Maria

1. a female given name from Hebrew
2. the Virgin Mary, the mother of Christ
3. (biblical) any of several other women in the New Testament, notably Mary Magdalene and Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha
4. a municipality of Siquijor

Maria f

1. (Luserna) a female given name from Hebrew, equivalent to English Mary

   Moi muatar khinnt vodar Tetsch, si hoazt Maria.

   My mother is from Tezze sul Brenta, her name is Maria.

• Patuzzi, Umberto, ed., (2013) Luserna / Lusérn: Le nostre parole / Ünsarne börtar / Unsere Wörter [Our Words], Luserna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle isole linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien

From Latin Maria, from Ancient Greek Μαρία (María), Μαριάμ (Mariám), from Aramaic מרים (Maryām), corresponding to the Hebrew מרים (Miryām). A Latinate variant of the vernacular Danish Marie.

• IPA^(key): /mɑˈʁiːæ/^[1]
• IPA^(key): /mɑˈʁeːæ/^[1]
• IPA^(key): /mɑˈʁiˀæ/^[1]
• IPA^(key): /mɑˈʁeˀæ/^[1]

Maria

1. Mary (Biblical character)
2. a female given name

• [3] Danskernes Navne, based on CPR data: 50 339 females with the given name Maria have been registered in Denmark between about 1890 (=the population alive in 1967) and January 2005, with the last frequency peak in the 1980s. Accessed on March 20th, 2011.

From Vulgate Latin Maria, from Ancient Greek Μαρία (María), Μαριάμ (Mariám), from Aramaic מרים (Maryām), corresponding to the Hebrew מרים (Miryām).

• IPA^(key): /maːˈri.(j)aː/

• Audio:

  (file)

Maria

1. Mary (Biblical character, mother of Jesus)
2. Mary (Biblical character, Mary Magdalene)
3. a female given name from Hebrew; variant forms Maaike, Marie, Marieke, Marijke, Marije, Mieke, Mie

• Mirjam

• Negerhollands: Maria, Marie

From Latin Maria, from Ancient Greek Μαρία (María), Μαριάμ (Mariám), from Aramaic מרים (Maryām), corresponding to the Hebrew מרים (Miryām). A Latinate variant of Maarja.

Maria

1. a female given name

Maria

1. a female given name
2. (biblical) Mary

Matronymics

• Maria's son: Mariuson
• Maria's daughter: Mariudóttir

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɑriɑ/, [ˈmɑ̝riɑ̝]
• Rhymes: -ɑriɑ
• Syllabification^(key): Ma‧ri‧a
• Hyphenation^(key): Ma‧ria

From Vulgate Latin Maria, from Ancient Greek Μαρία (María), Μαριάμ (Mariám), from Aramaic מרים (Maryām), corresponding to Biblical Hebrew מרים (Miryām) (whence Mirjam).^[1]

Maria

1. Mary (Biblical character)
   • 1548, Mikael Agricola, transl., Se Wsi Testamenti [The New Testament], Stockholm, Pyhen Mattheusen Euangelium (Matthew) 1:18:

     IESUSEN CHRISTUSEN syndymys/ nein oli. Cosca Maria hene’ eitens oli Josephijn kihlattu enne’ quin hen weij sen cotians leuttin hen oleua raskas pyheste Hengest.

     [JESUSEN KRISTUKSEN syntymys, näin oli. Koska Maria hänen äitins oli Josefin kihlattu enne’ kuin hän vei sen kotians löyettiin hän oleva raskas pyhästä Hengest.]

     Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.

2. a female given name
   • 1983, Eva Illoinen, Ovi pimeään, Tammi, →ISBN, page 155:

     Sirkku oli kovin väärä nimi. Mikä vahinko, etteivät ihmiset voineet etukäteen tietää miltä heidän lapsensa tulevat näyttämään ja sitten antoivat niille ihan vääriä nimiä. Maria sen olisi pitänyt, Maria tämä oli, kapeat kasvot ja tumma tukka, ei mikään Sirkku voinut näyttää tuollaiselta.

     Sirkku wasn't quite the right name. Such a shame it is that people couldn't foresee what their children would look like to prevent giving them names that are completely wrong. She should have been a Maria. Definitely a Maria, narrow face and dark hair, no Sirkku would look anything like that.

   • 1998, Leena Lehtolainen, Tuulen puolella, Tammi, →ISBN, page 321:

     Olin lapsena harmitellut nimeäni, jota silloin ei ollut muilla kuin mummoilla ja lahkolaisperheiden jälkeläisillä. Yläasteella minua oli piikitelty Neitsyt Mariaksi, vaikka raju ja poikamainen käytökseni oli kaikkea muuta kuin neitseellistä. Olin usein ihmetellyt miksi agnostikkovanhempani olivat valinneet niin vahvasti kristillisyyteen liittyvän nimen. He väittivät sen johtuvan vain siitä, että molempien isoäitieni nimi oli ollut Maria.

     As a child, I had regretted my name that only grandmas and children in sectarian families used to have back then. In junior high I had been mocked as a "Virgin Mary", even though my rough and boyish behavior was anything but virginal. I often wondered why my agnostic parents gave me a name so heavily associated with Christianity. They just said it was because both of my grandmothers had also been called Maria.

3. (colloquial) synonym of Marianpäivä

   mitä Mariana katolla, sitä vappuna vaolla ― the weather at the end of March bodes the weather when May begins (literally, “what you have on the roof on St Mary's (day), you will have on the furrows on May Day / you will have as much snow on the fields on May Day as you had on your roof on Lady Day”)

• This has been a common given name in Finland since the Middle Ages and is a popular middle name today.

• Maaria, Maija, Maiju, Maikki, Maila, Malla, Mari, Marianne, Marika, Marita, Maritta, Marja, Marjaana, Marjatta, Marjo, Marjukka, Marjut, Meeri, Meri, Merja, Miia

• Maria is the 22^nd most common female given name in Finland, belonging to 20,045 female individuals (and as a middle name to 178,729 more, making it more common as a middle name), and also belongs as a middle name to 46 male individuals, according to August 2025 data from the Digital and Population Data Services Agency of Finland.

Maria

1. partitive singular of Mari

   Rakastan Maria.

   I love Mari.

• armia, maari, raami, rimaa

From Vulgate Latin Maria, from Ancient Greek Μαρία (María), Μαριάμ (Mariám), from Aramaic מרים (Maryām), corresponding to the Hebrew מרים (Miryām). A Latinate variant of the vernacular French Marie.

• IPA^(key): /ma.ʁja/

Maria f

1. a female given name

• armai
• ramai

From Vulgate Latin Maria, from Ancient Greek Μαρία (María), Μαριάμ (Mariám), from Aramaic מרים (Maryām), corresponding to the Hebrew מרים (Miryām).

• IPA^(key): /maˈʁiːa/

• Audio (Austria):

  (file)

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Ma‧ri‧a

Maria f (proper noun, genitive Marias or (usually only with the Virgin Mary) Mariens or (in fixed Catholic expressions) Mariä, plural Marias)

1. a female given name, equivalent to English Mary

• The genitive form Mariä is restricted to Catholic contexts, and chiefly to the Virgin Mary. It is now very rare outside of fixed terms like Mariä Verkündigung (“Feast of the Annunciation”). In contemporary German, the genitive Mariens is also widely restricted to the Virgin, while the only form commonly used for other persons is Marias.
• In historic texts the name is often declined as in Latin. See Marīa.

• marianisch
• Marien-

Maria m (proper noun, strong, genitive Marias, plural Marias)

1. a male given name, used as a middle name, chiefly by Catholics

From the 19th century translation of the Bible into Hawaiian, from Ancient Greek Μαρία (María), Μαριάμ (Mariám), corresponding to the Hebrew מרים (Miryām).

• IPA^(key): /maˈli.a/, [məˈli.jə]

Maria

1. Mary (Biblical character)
   • 2012 Baibala Hemolele, Mataio 1:18 (tr. KJV Matthew 1:18):

     Penei hoʻi ka hānau ʻana o Iesū Kristo: I hoʻopalau ʻē ʻia kona makuwahine ʻo Maria na Iosepa, ʻaʻole naʻe lāua i pili, a ʻikea ʻo ia, ua hāpai na ka ʻUhane Hemolele.

     Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.

2. a female given name originating from the Bible, of 19th century usage (but possibly pronounced like Malia)

• ⇒ Hawaiian: Malia
  • → English: Malia

• Ka Baibala Hemolele
• Hawaii State Archives: Marriage records Maria occurs in 19th century marriage records as the only name (mononym) of 44 women.

From Vulgate Latin Maria, from Ancient Greek Μαρία (María), Μαριάμ (Mariám), from Aramaic מרים (Maryām), corresponding to the Hebrew מרים (Miryām). Doublet of Maryam.

• IPA^(key): /ma.ˈri.a/
• Rhymes: -a
• Hyphenation: Ma‧ri‧a

Maria

1. Mary (Biblical character, mother of Jesus)
2. Mary (Biblical character, Mary Magdalene)
3. a female given name from Hebrew

• “Maria”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

Inherited from Latin Maria.

• IPA^(key): /maˈri.a/
• Rhymes: -ia
• Hyphenation: Ma‧rì‧a

Maria f

1. (biblical) Mary, Miriam (biblical figures)
2. a female given name, equivalent to English Mary

• → Vietnamese: Ma-ri-a

Maria f (invariable)

1. (informal) cannabis, marijuana

   Synonym: Maria Giovanna

Maria (possibly regional)

1. Expressing exasperation: oh goodness gracious

   Maria, ancora i piatti ho da fare!

   Goodness gracious though, the dishes I still have to do!

   1. (by extension) Expressing resignation, sometimes playfully.
2. Expressing fear: goodness!

   Maria, mi hai fatto prendere un bel spavento! ― Goodness, you gave me a good spook!

3. General expression of surprise.

   Maria, ragione hai! ― Holy goodness, you're right!

4. (slightly humorous) An expression of surprise when something unintended, as well as loud and/or problematic happens as a side effect of handling (or interacting with) something (e.g. fixing an object and more parts fall off, or something falls and makes a loud noise).

• Variably causes syntactic doubling in the phrase Ave Maria (“Hail Mary”), pronunced /ave(m)‿maria/.
• When used as an interjection:
  • The starting /m/ is often lengthened in pronunciation for greater emphasis.
  • When used in sense 1.1 (expression of resignation), as well as sense 4 (unexpected problems) the word is often used alone.
  • When used to express exasperation (sense 1), the stressed /i/ is usually lengthened.
  • When used for surprise in further unexpected problems arising (sense 4), the word is pronounced a lot faster and the final syllable is not pronounced: [mːäˈriˑj]

• Maira, amari, armai, ramai, ramia, riama

Maria

1. Rōmaji transcription of マリア

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Μᾰρῐ́ᾱ (Mărĭ́ā), borrowed from Aramaic מרים (maryam), borrowed from Biblical Hebrew מִרְיָם (miryɔm). Corresponding to the Biblical Hebrew מרים (miryám).

• Marīa:
  • (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [maˈriː.a]
  • (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [maˈriː.a]
• Maria:
  • (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈma.ri.a]
  • (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈmaː.ri.a]
• Note: attested as Maria, as in Ancient Greek, in early Christian poets, but commonly Marīa from the 6th century onwards (see quotations).

Marīa f (genitive Marīae); first declension

1. a female given name
2. Mary (mother of Jesus)
   • 4th c., Prudentius, Dittochaeon 99-100:

     "Sānctus tē spīritus", inquit,
     "Inplēbit, Maria. Chrīstum pariēs, sacra virgō."

     "The Holy spirit", he said, "will fill you, Mary. You shall bear Christ, O holy virgin."

   • 6th c., Venantius Fortunatus, Carmina 8.3:

     Inde Deī genetrīx pia Virgŏ Marīa coruscat
     virgineōque agnī dē grege dūcit ovēs.

     Hence, the mother of God, the pious Virgin Mary, quivers, and leads the lambs of the virgineal flock of Jesus.

First-declension noun.

• Avē Marīa

Borrowings

• “Maria”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Borrowed from Portuguese Maria. Doublet of Maryam.

Maria

1. (Christianity) Mary, mother of Jesus

• (Islam) Maryam

Maria f

1. a female given name

From Latin Maria, from Ancient Greek Μαρία (María), Μαριάμ (Mariám), from Aramaic מרים (Maryām), corresponding to the Hebrew מרים (Miryām). Recorded as a given name in Norway since the Middle Ages.

Maria

1. Mary (Biblical character)
2. a female given name

• jomfru Maria (Bokmål), jomfru Maria (Nynorsk)

• Maja, Maren, Mari, Mariann, Marianne, Marie, Mary, May, Mia

• Kristoffer Kruken - Ola Stemshaug: Norsk personnamnleksikon, Det Norske Samlaget, Oslo 1995, →ISBN
• [4] Statistisk sentralbyrå, Namnestatistikk: 16 621 females with the given name Maria living in Norway on January 1st 2011, with frequency peaks the 1990s and the 2000s. Accessed on April 18th, 2011.

From Latin Maria, from Ancient Greek Μαρία (María), Μαριάμ (Mariám), from Aramaic מרים (Maryām), corresponding to the Hebrew מרים (Miryām).

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɑˌriː.ɑ/

Marīa f

1. Mary
   • 10th century, The Descent into Hell:

     Cwōm sēo murnende Marīa on dæġrēd, hēht hȳ ōþre mid eorles dohtor.

     The mourning Maria came on the dawn, bade the other daughter of the man.

Weak:

• Marja, Marya

Inherited from Latin Maria, borrowed from Ancient Greek Μᾰρῐ́ᾱ (Mărĭ́ā), borrowed from Aramaic מרים (maryam), borrowed from Biblical Hebrew מִרְיָם (miryɔm).

• IPA^(key): /maˈɾia/
• Rhymes: -ia
• Hyphenation: Ma‧ria

Maria f

1. (biblical) Mary (mother of Jesus)

   Synonym: Santa Maria

2. a female given name, equivalent to English Mary

• Galician: María
• Portuguese: Maria

• Barreiro, Xavier Varela; Guinovart, Xavier Gómez (2006–2018), “Maria”, in Corpus Xelmírez: corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval [Corpus Xelmírez: linguistic corpus of Medieval Galicia] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Seoane, Ernesto Xosé González; Granja, María Álvarez de la; Agrelo, Ana Isabel Boullón (2006–2022), “Maria”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval [Dictionary of dictionaries of Medieval Galician] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Ferreiro, Manuel (2014–2026), “Maria”, in Universo Cantigas: edición crítica da poesía medieval galego-portuguesa [Universo Cantigas: critical edition of Galician-Portuguese medieval poetry] (in Galician), A Coruña: University of A Coruña, →ISSN

Maria

1. (biblical) Mary.
2. a female given name

Learned borrowing from Latin Marīa. Doublet of Maryja.

• IPA^(key): /ˈma.rja/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -arja
• Syllabification: Ma‧ria

Maria f (diminutive Marysia or Marynia or Mania, augmentative Marycha)

1. (countable) a female given name from Latin [in turn from Ancient Greek, in turn from Aramaic], equivalent to English Mary
2. (uncountable, biblical, Christianity, dated) Mary (mother of Jesus)

   Synonym: Maryja

• “Maria”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[5] (in Polish)

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese Maria, from Latin Maria, borrowed from Ancient Greek Μᾰρῐ́ᾱ (Mărĭ́ā), borrowed from Aramaic מרים (maryam), borrowed from Biblical Hebrew מִרְיָם (miryɔm). Doublet of Miriam.

• Rhymes: -iɐ
• Hyphenation: Ma‧ri‧a

Maria f (plural Marias)

1. (biblical) Mary (mother of Jesus)

   Synonyms: Virgem Maria, Virgem, Santa Maria, Nossa Senhora

2. a female given name, equivalent to English Mary or Maria

• → Malay: Maria

• Mário
• Mariana

• “Maria”, in Dicionário Eletrônico Houaiss [Houaiss Electronic Dictionary] (in Portuguese), São Paulo: UOL, 2004–2026
• “Maria”, in Dicionário infopédia de Antroponímia (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2026

Borrowed from Latin Maria, from Ancient Greek Μαρία (María), Μαριάμ (Mariám), from Aramaic מרים (Maryām), corresponding to the Hebrew מרים (Miryām).

• Audio:

  (file)

Maria f (genitive/dative Mariei)

1. Mary (Biblical character)
2. a female given name, equivalent to English Mary

From Latin Maria, from Ancient Greek Μαρία (María), Μαριάμ (Mariám), from Aramaic מרים (Maryām), corresponding to the Hebrew מרים (Miryām). First recorded in Sweden in 1344.

• IPA^(key): /ma²riːa/

• Audio:

  (file)

Maria c (genitive Marias, sometimes Marie)

1. Mary (Biblical character)
2. a female given name

• Traditionally popular as a given name in Sweden, Maria was (for example) the most common first name of women born in the 1960s. It is also a popular middle name.

• lex Maria

• Roland Otterbjörk: Svenska förnamn, Almqvist & Wiksell 1996, →ISBN
• [6] Statistiska centralbyrån: 444 914 females with the given name Maria living in Sweden on December 31st, 2010. Accessed on March 29th, 2011.

• Ma. — abbreviation

Borrowed from Spanish María, from Latin Maria, from Ancient Greek Μαρίᾱ (Maríā), Μαριάμ (Mariám), from Aramaic מרים (maryām), corresponding to the Biblical Hebrew מרים (miryám). Doublet of Mary.

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /maˈɾia/ [mɐˈɾiː.ɐ], /maɾiˈa/ [mɐˈɾja]
• Rhymes: -ia, -a
• Syllabification: Ma‧ri‧a

Maria or Mariá (Baybayin spelling ᜋᜇᜒᜌ or ᜋᜇ᜔ᜌ)

1. (biblical) Mary
2. a female given name from Spanish

• “Maria”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, 2018

• maari

Maria

1. alternative spelling of Ma-ri-a (“Mary”)

• IPA^(key): /maˈʀja/

Maria

1. a female given name, equivalent to English Mary

From English Mary.

• IPA^(key): /mà.ɾí.à/

Màríà

1. (biblical) Mary
2. a female given name from English