Mary
Language: English
Part of speech: name
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈmɛə.ɹi/
enpr: mârʹē
note: Mary–marry–merry merger
ipa: /ˈmɛɹ.i/
note: without the Mary–marry–merry merger
ipa: /ˈmɛɚ.i/
ipa: /ˈmeː.ɹi/
note: without the cheer–chair merger
ipa: /ˈmeəɹi/
note: New Zealand, cheer–chair merger
ipa: /ˈmiəɹi/
ipa: /ˈmeɹɪ/
ipa: /ˈmeɹe/
note: Lancashire, fair–fur merger
ipa: /ˈmɜːɹɪ/
homophone: marry
homophone: Merry
homophone: merry stripped-by-parse_pron_post_template_fn
rhymes: -ɛəɹi
Forms: form: Marys
form: Maries
form: Marie
Etymology: From Middle English Marie, from Old French Marie, from Latin Maria, from Ancient Greek Μαρία (María), Μαριάμ (Mariám), from Aramaic מַרְיָם (maryām) or Biblical Hebrew מִרְיָם (miryām), of uncertain meaning (see the Hebrew entry for more). Doublet of Miriam, Marie, Maria, and Mariah.
Senses: examples: text: I have a passion for the name of Mary,
For once it was a magic sound to me:
And still it half calls up the realm of fairy
Where I beheld what never was to be.
ref: 1821, Lord Byron, Don Juan, Canto the Fifth: IV:
text: Mary, which is as common as a white violet, and like that has something indestructibly sweet and simple, and fit for all wear, high or low, suits the cottage or the palace, the garden or the field, the pretty and the ugly, the old and the young;
ref: 1830, Mary Russell Mitford, Our Village: Cottage Names:
text: For it was Mary; Mary / Plain as any name can be / But with propriety, society / Will say "Marie". / But it was Mary; Mary / Long before the fashions came / And there's something there that sounds so square / It's a grand old name.
ref: 1905 George M.Cohan, Forty-Five Minutes from Broadway, Mary is a Grand Old Name ( a song)
text: They had called their children Ann, Mary, and John as a reaction against their own fancy tricksy names. Both mothers thought these names sadly unimaginative and each blamed the child of the other for the lack of vision and style.
ref: 1996, Maeve Binchy, This Year It Will Be Different: A Christmas Treasury, Hachette UK, published 2008, →ISBN:
text: For the last decade at least, the trend seems to be that more untraditional names are being chosen over the Bobs, the Toms, the Sues and the Marys.
ref: 2009 April 25, “Meet Number 16 Bus Shelter”, in Austin Daily Herald, archived from the original on 20 Jul 2025:
text: Life on Martha’s Vineyard has been mostly ideal for 11-year-old Mary Elizabeth Lambert, the protagonist of Ann Clare LeZotte’s historical novel SHOW ME A SIGN (Scholastic, 288 pp., $18.99; ages 8 to 12).
ref: 2020 April 27, Meg Medina, “A Deaf Girl Finds Her Voice on Martha's Vineyard in the 19th Century”, in The New York Times Book Review, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 05 Dec 2022:
glosses: A female given name from Aramaic or Hebrew.
examples: text: Now the birth of Jeſus Chriſt was on this wiſe: When as his mother Mary was eſpouſed to Joſeph (before they came together) ſhee was found with childe of the holy Ghoſt.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 1:18, column 2:
topics: lifestyle
religion
glosses: The mother of Jesus, believed in Christianity and Islam to have been a virgin at his birth, and believed by some Christians to have been born herself without sin, to have ascended to Heaven without death, and to act as a sympathetic intermediary for believers.
topics: biblical
lifestyle
religion
glosses: Any of several other women in the New Testament, notably:
Mary Magdalene, a disciple of Jesus.
examples: text: And Jeſus anſwered, and ſaide vnto her, Martha, Martha, thou art carefull, and troubled about many things: But one thing is needefull, and Mary hath choſen that good part, which ſhall not bee taken away from her.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 10:41–42, column 1:
topics: biblical
lifestyle
religion
glosses: Any of several other women in the New Testament, notably:
Mary of Bethany, the sister of Lazarus and Martha.
topics: Islam
lifestyle
religion
synonyms: Maryam
glosses: The 19th sura (chapter) of the Qur'an, recounting the events leading up to the birth of Jesus.
examples: text: Note also that male homosexuals will call most anyone Bessie or Mary, e.g. ‘Oh, Bessie, you're a camp!’
ref: 1941, G. Legman, Sex Variants, volume II, page 1171:
text: In America in the 1950s,... Mary was often used in the vocative to address any fellow homosexual (‘Well, Mary...’).
ref: 1985, W. Dynes, Homolexis, page 150:
topics: LGBT
synonyms: nancy
nan
glosses: A term of address for a male homosexual.
glosses: A male middle name, given in honour of the Virgin Mary.
Synonyms: sense: mother of Jesus
word: advocatrix
sense: mother of Jesus
word: Blessed Virgin
sense: mother of Jesus
word: Blessed Virgin Mary
sense: mother of Jesus
word: Christotokos
sense: mother of Jesus
word: Coredemptrix
sense: mother of Jesus
word: Deipara
sense: mother of Jesus
word: Holy Mary
sense: mother of Jesus
word: Holy Mother
sense: mother of Jesus
word: Holy Mother of God
sense: mother of Jesus
word: Madonna
sense: mother of Jesus
word: Maria
sense: mother of Jesus
word: Mater Dei
sense: mother of Jesus
word: Miriam
sense: mother of Jesus
word: Morning Star
sense: mother of Jesus
word: Mother of God
sense: mother of Jesus
word: Mother of Mercy
sense: mother of Jesus
word: Mother of Sorrows
sense: mother of Jesus
word: New Eve
sense: mother of Jesus
word: Our Lady
sense: mother of Jesus
word: Our Lady of Dolors
sense: mother of Jesus
word: Our Lady of Sorrows
sense: mother of Jesus
word: Our Lady of the Seven Dolors
sense: mother of Jesus
word: Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows
sense: mother of Jesus
word: Panagia
sense: mother of Jesus
word: Queen of Heaven
sense: mother of Jesus
word: Santa Maria
sense: mother of Jesus
word: Saint Mary
sense: mother of Jesus
word: Sorrowful Mother
sense: mother of Jesus
word: Star of the Sea
sense: mother of Jesus
word: Theotokos
sense: mother of Jesus
word: the Virgin
sense: mother of Jesus
word: Virgin Mary
Coordinate terms: Amina
Derived terms: Joseph-and-Mary
Mary-and-Joseph
spotted Mary
Blandford St Mary
Bloody Mary
Buckland St Mary
Saint Mary Lake
Bures St Mary
Capel St Mary
Chadwell St Mary
Clyst St Mary
Daughter of Mary
Donhead St Mary
Down St Mary
Holy Mary
holy moley
holy moly
Kingston St Mary
Lowton St Mary's
Marian
Maryann
Maryanne
Mary Ann
Mary Anne
Mary Bell order
Mary Ellen
Mary Gregory
Mary Jane
Mary-Lou
Mary Lou
Mary Poppins-esque
Mary Poppinsesque
Mary Poppinsy
Marystown
Marysville
Maryton
Marytown
Maryville
Moll
Molly
Ottery St Mary
Plympton St Mary
Port St Mary
Pulham St Mary
Rose Mary Stretch
Saint Mary
Saint-Mary
Sister of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary
Sister of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
St Mary Cray
St Mary Hoo
St Mary in the Marsh
St. Mary Parish
St Mary's Bay
St. Mary's County
St. Marys River
St Mary's
St. Mary's
St. Marys
St Marys
St. Mary
St Mary
St.-Mary
St-Mary
Stoke St Mary
Tedburn St Mary
Tivetshall St Mary
Trimley St Mary
Virgin Mary
William and Mary
Wisbech St Mary
Related terms: sense: Variants and pet forms
word: Mae
sense: Variants and pet forms
word: Maire
sense: Variants and pet forms
word: Mamie
sense: Variants and pet forms
word: Maria
sense: Variants and pet forms
word: Mariah
sense: Variants and pet forms
word: Marian
sense: Variants and pet forms
word: Mariana
sense: Variants and pet forms
word: Marianne
sense: Variants and pet forms
word: Marie
sense: Variants and pet forms
word: Marilyn
sense: Variants and pet forms
word: Marion
sense: Variants and pet forms
word: Marisa
sense: Variants and pet forms
word: Marissa
sense: Variants and pet forms
word: Marlene
sense: Variants and pet forms
word: Maryam
sense: Variants and pet forms
word: Maryann
sense: Variants and pet forms
word: Maureen
sense: Variants and pet forms
word: May
sense: Variants and pet forms
word: Maya
sense: Variants and pet forms
word: Mayme
sense: Variants and pet forms
word: Mia
sense: Variants and pet forms
word: Moira
sense: Variants and pet forms
word: Mollie
sense: Variants and pet forms
word: Molly
sense: Variants and pet forms
word: Mya
sense: Variants and pet forms
word: Polly