Maria is a feminine given name. It is given in many languages influenced by Christianity.
It was used as the feminine form of the unrelated Roman name Marius (see Maria gens), and, after Christianity had spread across the Roman Empire, it became the Latinised form of the name of Miriam: Mary, mother of Jesus.
Maria (Greek: Μαρία) is a form of the name used in the New Testament, standing alongside Mariam (Μαριάμ). It reflects the Syro-Aramaic name Maryam, which is in turn derived from the Biblical Hebrew name Miriam. As a result of their similarity and syncretism, the Latin original name Maria and the Hebrew-derived Maria combined to form a single name.
In Germanic languages, the name's usage is connected with the Germanic element *mar*, meaning "famous".
The name is also sometimes used as a male (middle) name. This was historically the case in many Central Europe 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).
In the Arabic language the name Mariam (مريم) (also written: Meryem, Mariya) means either "white beautiful woman" or "white cow" or "a little bird with the same size as a pigeon", and it is quite popular in North Africa. One of the feminine Sahaba had the name Maria, Maria the Coptic.
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Variants and usage
Maria was a frequently given name in southern Europe even in the medieval period. In addition to the simple name, there arose a tradition of naming girls after specific titles of Mary, feast days associated with Mary and specific Marian apparitions (such as María de los Dolores, María del Pilar, María del Carmen etc., whence the derived given names of Dolores, Pilar, Carmen etc.). By contrast, in northern Europe the name only rose to popularity after the Reformation.
Because the name is so frequent in Christian tradition, a tradition of giving compound names has developed, with a number of such compounds themselves becoming very popular. Examples, among numerous others, include:
Anna + Maria (Anne-Marie, Marianne)
Maria + Luisa (Marie-Louise)
Maria + Antonia (Maria Antonia, French Marie-Antoinette)
Maria + Helena (Italian Maria Elena, Spanish María Elena)
Maria + Teresa (Maria Theresa, French Marie Thérèse)
Maria + {Issa} Marissa or Marisa Christian Nazareth
Maria + {Saiyra} Mary-Saiyra or Saiyra Mary Christian Antioch
As a feminine given name, Maria ranked 109th in the United States as of 2015, down from rank 31 held during 1973–1975. The English form Mary was at rank 214 as of 2015, after a much steeper decline down from being ranked first consistently during 1880–1968.
Spelling variants of Maria include: Mária (Hungarian, Slovak), María (Greek, Icelandic, Spanish), Máire and Muire (Irish), Marya (transliterated from Cyrillic), Marija (Latvian, but also used in other Balto-Slavic languages) and Maria (Polish). Due to a very strong devotion of Irish and Polish Catholics to the Blessed Virgin Mary, a special exception is made for two other forms of her name – Muire and Maryja: no one else may take that name, similar to the way the name Jesus is not used in most languages. The English form Mary is derived via French Marie.
People named Maria
Royalty
Maria Gustavna Tutelberg, maid in the Russian Imperial Household
Maria Fitzherbert (1756–1837), Royal mistress
Maria Antonia Branconi (1746–1793), German royal mistress
Religious figures
Maria al-Qibtiyya (died 637), Muhammad's concubine or thirteenth wife
Maria Ulfah (born 1955), Indonesian Quran reciter
Fictional characters
Maria, the main antagonist of the anime Witchblade
Maria, a character played by Laura Nicole in the British web series Corner Shop Show
Maria, a supporting character in Shakespeare's play Twelfth Night
Maria (West Side Story), the main female protagonist from the musical West Side Story
María Clara, a character from the novel Noli Me Tángere by Filipino writer and activist José Rizal
Maria Campbell, a character in the anime My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!
Jose Maria Gonzalez, the starring role in Wild Side Story
Maria Hill, a SHIELD agent in Marvel Comics
Maria Himesato, a character from Aikatsu!
Maria Jackson, a character from The Sarah Jane Adventures
Maria Renard, a character in the Castlevania video game series
Maria Robotnik, a character in the Sonic the Hedgehog video game series
Maria Santiago, a character from The Loud House
Maria Valkyrie, protagonist of video games Valkyrie Elysium
Maria von Trapp, the main female protagonist of the musical The Sound of Music
