Maria

Queen Maria Anna of Spain

### See Also

Other names also meaning "famous": Robert / Rupert, Waldemar / Vladimir, Martin / Mark, Ludwig / Louis, Morgan, Stephen / Steven

**Maria**, also spelled **María** and **Maaria**, is a feminine given name. It is, along with its other forms, one of the most widespread female given names in the world used in many languages. Its usage is highy influenced by Christianity, where it is used in the Bible.

When the name first entered the Roman empire, it was erroneously used as a feminine form of the unrelated Roman name *Marius* (see Maria gens) and, after Christianity had started to spread across the Roman empire, it became recognized as the Latinised form of the name of Miriam, itself the name of  Mary, mother of Jesus in the Bible.

*Maria* (spelled in Greek as Μαρία) is a Greek form of the name which was used in the earliest Greek translations of the New Testament, where it was seen used alongside another form of the name, *Mariam* (Μαριάμ), which itself is closer to the original Miriam. It resembles the Syro-Aramaic form of the name *Maryam*, which is itself 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* ended up merging to form a single name.

In Germanic languages, the name's usage is connected with the Germanic element \*mar meaning "famous". Names meaning "famous", such as Robert, Roland, Waldemar / Vladimir, Ludwig / Louis, among others, were highly valued by the Germanic peoples and were commonly used. These names, primarily Robert and Ludwig / Louis, were associated with Royalty and were regarded as regal. Thus, the name ended up being adopted into Germanic languages as an original Germanic name derived from a Proto-Germanic source, thus obtaining a new etymology.

The name is also sometimes used as a male name, although most commonly encountered as a middle name. Historically, this practice was common in many Central European countries and the practice is still encountered in countries with strong Catholic traditions, where the name, used for a male, signified the males being in protection of the Virgin Mary (French-speakers often did the same with the French form of the name, *Marie*).

## Variants and usage

*Maria* has been a frequently given name in southern Europe since as early as the medieval period. In addition to the name being used in its own right as a standalone, another tradition arose of naming girls after specific titles of Mary, feast days associated with Mary and specific Marian apparitions (such as *María de los Dolores (Our Lady of Sorrows)*, *María del Pilar (Our Lady of the Pillar)*, *María del Carmen (Our Lady of Mount Carmel)* etc., when the derived given names of *Dolores*, *Pilar*, *Carmen* etc. began being used). At the same time in northern Europe the name only rose to popularity after the Reformation where before it was used as a derivative of the Germanic element \*mar meaning *fame* but was not nearly as popular.

Because of the names frequent usage in Christian tradition, a tradition of giving compound names containing Maria as one part of the name has developed. A significant number of such compounds themselves had started becoming very popular and some of them are still in common use today. Examples of some of the most commonly used compound names include:

* Anna + Maria (Anne-Marie, Marianne)
* Maria + Luisa (Marie-Louise)
* Margarita + Maria (English Margaret Mary, French Marguerite Marie)
* 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 and 1975; the English form *Mary* was at rank 214 as of 2015, after a much steeper decline down from being raked first consistently during 1880–1968.

There are several spelling variants of the name *Maria*. The most commonly used ones include: *Mária* (Hungarian, Slovakian), *María* (Greek, Icelandic, Spanish), *Máire* and *Muire* (Irish), *Marya* (transliterated from Cyrillic script), *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, there is a special exception made for two other Irish forms of her name – *Muire* and *Maryja*: the names are not used on actual people and are forbidden to be given to individuals, similar to the way the variant of Joshua, *Jesus* is not used in most languages except for some Romance languages like Spanish. The English form *Mary* is a derivative via French *Marie*, which entered England during the Norman Conquest.

*Maria*, at times also spelled *Maaria*, is the most commonly given female name in Finland. The name had already entered Finland in the Viking age when the Old Norse speaking neighboring populations were using it with its Germanic meaning (\*mar, meaning “fame”). The name also appears in several Norse sagas. To this day it still remains highly popular in Finland.

There is a great number of hypocoristic forms of the name, which are in use in numerous languages. Cyrillic *Maryam* and *Miriam* have numerous variants, such as

* Mariami (Georgian)
* Mariamma, biblical Mariamme, Mariamne
* Məryəm (Azerbaijani)
* Meryem (Kurdish, Turkish)
* Myriam (French)

The spelling used in Semitic abjads is *mrym*, itelf via Aramaic ܡܪܝܡ, Hebrew מרים and Arabic مريم.

Cyrillic spellings are Мария (*Maríja*) (Russian, Bulgarian), Марыя (*Marýja*) (Belarusian), Марія (*Maríja*) (Ukrainian) and Марија (*Marija*) (Serbian, Macedonian).

In Georgian მარიამ (*Mariam*) and მარია (*Maria*) are in common use; Armenian uses Մարիամ (*Mariam*).

Chinese has adopted the spelling 瑪麗 (simplified 玛丽, pinyin *Mǎlì*). This is mostly used in English speaking regions of China, such as Hong Kong which is a former British colony and English language given names are in common use there. Since both English and Chinese are the official languages, the English language given names are often transliterated into Chinese and vice-versa.

The variant *Mariah* (usually pronounced as Meraya) was rarely given in the United States prior to the 1990s, when it began rapidly increasing in popularity, rising from rank 562 in 1989 to rank 62 in 1998. The name became used in imitation of the name of singer Mariah Carey who began rising in popularity in the 1990s.

### Masculine name

Today *Maria* is commonly used as a part of masculine given names in Hispanic and Roman Catholic tradition, in reference to Virgin Mary. It is used as a male name in order to signify that the person is in protection of Mary.

## People

### Royalty

* Maria of Russia (several people)
* Maria I of Portugal (1734-1816), Queen of Portugal
* Maria II of Portugal (1818-1853), Queen of Portugal
* Princess Maria Pia of Bourbon-Parma (born 1934)

### Female

* Maaria Eira, Finnish opera singer and actress
* Maria al-Qibtiyya
* María Conchita Alonso (born 1957), American singer/songwriter and actress
* Jean Maria Arrigo, American social psychologist and oral historian
* Maria Ahtisa Manalo, Miss International Philippines 2018
* Maria Ângela Carrascalão, East Timorese politician
* María Alanoca (born 1960), Bolivian politician
* María Fernanda Aristizábal (born 1997), Colombian model and beauty pageant titleholder
* María Azambuya (1944–2011), Uruguayan actress and theatre director
* Maria Bamford (born 1970), American stand-up comedian, actress, and voice actress
* María Bazo (born 1998), Peruvian windsurfer
* Maria E. Beasley, American inventor
* Maria Beig (1920–2018), German author
* Maria Bello (born 1967), American actress and writer
* María Belón (born 1966), Spanish physician and motivational speaker
* Maria Brink (born 1977), American singer and songwriter
* María Bolívar (born 1975), Venezuelan politician
* Maria Callas (1923–1977), Greek-American soprano
* Maria Callani (1778–1803), Italian 18th century portrait painter active in Parma Ceschi
* Maria Cantwell (born 1958), U.S. Senator
* Maria Cole (1922–2012), American jazz singer
* Maria Colwell (1965–1973), British female murder victim
* Maria Christina (several people)
* Maria Dallas, New Zealand singer
* Maria Damanaki (born 1952) Greek politician
* Maria d'Apparecida (1926–2017), Brazilian opera singer
* Maria Darling, British voice actress
* Maria de Lourdes Martins Cruz, East Timorese religious sister
* Maria de Vasconcelos (born 1970), Portuguese psychiatrist, singer and songwriter
* Maria do Céu Sarmento, East Timorese politician
* Maria Domingas Alves, East Timorese politician
* Maria Durhuus (born 1977), Danish politician
* Maria Edgeworth (1768–1849), Anglo-Irish writer of adults' and children's literature
* Maria Luisa Escolar, Colombian pediatrician
* María Escudero-Escribano (born 1983), Spanish chemist
* María-Esther Vidal, Venezuelan scientist
* Maria Louise Eve (1842–1900), American poet
* Maria Ewing (1950–2022), American opera singer
* Maria Farantouri (born 1947), Greek singer
* [[Wikipedia:[María Fernanda Di Giacobbe|María Fernanda Di Giacobbe]] (born 1964), Venezuelan chocolatier
* Maria Fyfe (1938–2020), Scottish politician
* María Esther García López (born, 1948), poet, writer; president, Asturias Writers Association
* María la Grande (c.1789–1841), prominent Tehuelche leader of the early 19th century
* Maria Guyomar de Pinha (1664–1728), Siamese cook
* Maria Harfanti (born 1992), Miss World Indonesia 2015
* Maria Höfl-Riesch (born 1984), German alpine skier
* María Holly (born 1932), widow of rock and roll pioneer Buddy Holly
* Maria Iliou (born 1960) Greek film director, scriptwriter and producer
* Maria James (1793–1868), Welsh-born American poet
* Maria Jane Jewsbury (1800–1833), English writer, poet, literary reviewer
* María José (several people)
* Maria Kanellis (born 1982), American professional wrestler
* Maria Kekkonen, Finnish erotic actress
* Maria Brace Kimball (1852–1933), American educator, elocutionist, writer
* Maria Kochetkova (born 1984), Russian ballet dancer
* Maria Kovrigina (1910–1995), Russian physician and Soviet minister of health
* Maria Koworski (born 1976), American ballet dancer
* Maria Lampadaridou Pothou (born 1933), Greek novelist, poet and playwright
* Maria Elise Turner Lauder (1833–1922), Canadian writer
* Maria Lauterbach (1987–2007), American murder victim
* Maria Lioudaki (1894–1947), Greek educator, folklorist, and resistance fighter
* Maria Lohela (born 1978), Finnish politician
* Maria Lowell (1821–1853), American poet, abolitionist
* Maria Lugones (1944–2020), American philosopher
* Maria Lynn Ehren (born 1992), Thai singer and model
* Maria Laura Mainetti (1939–2000), Italian Catholic sister and murder victim
* María Emma Mannarelli (born 1954), Peruvian feminist writer, historian, professor
* Maria Mandl (1912–1948), Austrian Nazi SS commandant of the female camp at Auschwitz concentration camp executed for war crimes
* Maria Rika Maniates (1937–2011), Canadian musicologist
* María Marcano de León, Puerto Rican government official
* Maria Mazina (born 1964), Russian Olympic champion épée fencer
* Maria Alberta Menéres (1930–2019), Portuguese writer
* Maria Montessori (1870–1952), Italian educator
* Maria Naganawa (born 1995), Japanese voice actress
* Maria Nikiforova (1885–1919), Ukrainian anarchist partisan
* María Beatriz Nofal, Argentine economist and civil servant
* Maria Ozawa (born 1986) Japanese actress
* Maria Palmer (1917–1981), Austrian-born American actress
* Maria Petri (1939–2022), English association football supporter
* Maria Posobchuk (1890–1992), Ukrainian weaver
* Maria Rajaheng (born 1991), Miss World Indonesia 2014
* Maria Goretti, a victim of crime and saint
* Maria Rasputin (1898–1977), memoirist
* María Teresa Rejas (born 1946), Spanish politician
* Maria Ressa (born 1963), Filipino-American author, journalist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate
* Maria Reynolds (1768–1828), wife of James Reynolds
* Maria Sakkari (born 1995), Greek professional tennis player
* María Elena Salinas,American broadcast journalist, news anchor, and author
* Maria Selena (born 1990), Indonesian beauty pageant titleholder who won Puteri Indonesia 2011
* Maria Sharapova (born 1987), Russian professional tennis player
* Maria Shriver (born 1955), American journalist and activist
* Maria Simonds-Gooding (born 1939), Indian-born Anglo-Irish artist
* Maria Antónia Siza (1940–1973), Portuguese artist
* Maria Strömkvist (born 1964), Swedish politician
* Maria Tenazi (1903–1930), Soviet Armenian silent film actress
* Maria Theresa (several people)
* Maria von Trapp (1905–1987), Austrian-born American singer
* María Valverde (born 1987), Spanish actress
* Maria Eulália Vares, Brazilian mathematical statistician and probability theorist
* Maria Vasilkova (born 1978), Russian politician
* Maria Chantal Videla (born 2002), Filipino-Argentine actress, model and singer of K-pop girl group Lapillus
* Maria Walliser (born 1963), Swiss alpine skier
* Maria Torrence Wishart (1893 – 1982), Canadian medical illustrator and the founder of the University of Toronto's Art as Applied to Medicine program
* Maria Zandbang (1886–1972), Polish equestrian

### Fictional characters

* Maria, a fictional character played by Laura Nicole in the British web series *Corner Shop Show*
* Maria, a villain character in the tokusatsu  *Chōjin Sentai Jetman*
* Maria, the youngest princess of Macedon in the *Fire Emblem* video game series
* Maria, a character from the American television series *Sesame Street*
* Maria (*West Side Story*), the main female protagonist from the musical *West Side Story*
* Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower, a boss character from *The Old Hunters* DLC for the video game *Bloodborne*
* Maria Calavera, a supporting character in the animated web series *RWBY*
* María Clara, a character from the novel *Noli Me Tángere* by Filipino writer and activist José Rizal
* Grace Maria Fleed, a character from the anime *UFO Robot Grendizer*
* Maria Fritz, the daughter of Ymir Fritz, namesake of Wall Maria and a minor character in the anime and manga *Attack on Titan*
* Maria Hojo, a supporting character from *Suite PreCure*
* Maria Jackson, a character from *The Sarah Jane Adventures*
* Maria Kasugano, a minor character from *Yes! PreCure 5*
* Maria Renard, a character in the *Castlevania* video game series
* Maria Robotnik, a character in the *Sonic the Hedgehog* video game series
* Maria Saotome, a minor character from *Soaring Sky! Pretty Cure*
* Maria von Trapp, the main female protagonist of the musical *The Sound of Music*
* Maria Wong, a character from the Canadian animated television series *Braceface*

### Male (as part of a compound name or as a middle name)

* Carlo Maria Abate, Italian racecar driver
* Alberto María de Agostini, Italian explorer
* Carlos María de Alvear, Argentine general
* José María Aznar, Spanish politician, former Prime Minister of Spain
* Angelo Maria Bandini, Italian author and librarian
* Antonio María Barbieri, Uruguayan cardinal
* Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria
* Giobanni Maria Benzoni, Italian sculptor
* Matteo Maria Boiardo, Italian poet
* Giovanni Maria Bottala, Italian painter
* Claus Maria Brandauer, Austrian actor
* Giuseppe Maria Buonaparte, Corsican politician
* Carlo Maria Cippola, Italian economic historian
* Giovanni Carlo Maria Clari, Italian composer
* Carlo Maria Curci, Italian theologian
* Corrado Maria Daclon, Italian journalist
* Felix Maria Diogg, Swiss painter
* Timm Maria Franz Elstner, German TV host
* Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, better known as Pope Pius IX
* Johann Maria Frina, Italian-German perfumer
* Carlo Innocenzio Maria Frugoni, Italian poet
* Alessandro Maria Gaetano Galilei, Italian architect and mathematician
* Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi, Italian general and patriot
* Giuseppe Maria Giuletti, Italian soldier
* Carlo Maria Giulini, Italian conductor
* Francesco Maria Grimaldi, Italian mathematician
* Christoph Maria Herbst, German actor
* Franco Maria Malfatti, Italian politician
* Thomas Maria Mamachi, Italo-Greek Dominican theologian and historian
* Antonio Maria Maraggiano, Italian sculptor
* Carlo Maria Martini, Italian cardinal
* Giobanni Maria Nanino, Italian composer
* Tommaso Maria Napoli, Italian architect
* José María Olazábal, Spanish golfer
* Francesco Maria Piave, Italian librettist
* Carlo Maria Pintacuda, Italian racecar driver
* Francesco Maria Pritilli, Italian scholar and antiquarian
* Erich Maria Remarque, German writer, widely regarded as one of the greatest German writers of all time
* Franco Maria Ricci, Italian art publisher
* Rainer Maria Rilke, German poet, widely regarded as one of the greatest German poets of all time
* Jan Maria Rokita, Polish politician
* Anton Maria Schyrleus of Rheita, Czech astronomer
* Juan Carlos Alfonso Víctor María de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias, king of Spain
* Charles Edward Louis John Casimir Silvester Maria Stuart, leader of the Jacobite rebellion
* José María Canlás Sison, Filipino activist and founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines
* Victor Maria Regis Sotto (born 1989), Filipino politician
* Giuseppe Maria Tomasi, Italian cardinal and saint
* Giovanni Maria Trabaci, Italian composer
* Antonio Maria Vassallo, Italian painter
* Francesco Maria Veracini, Italian composer and violinist
* Gianni Versace born Giovanni Maria Versace, Italian fashion designer
* Filippo Maria Visconti, Duke of Milan
* Gian Maria Visconti, Duke of Milan
* Gian Maria Volonté, Italian actor and activist, remembered for his versatility as a performer his outspoken left-wing leanings, and fiery temper on- and off-screen
* Carl Maria von Weber, German composer
* Edward Maria Wingfield, English explorer
* Tommaso Maria Zigliara, Italian cardinal
* Maximilian Maria Kolbe, Polish Conventual Franciscan
* Karl-Theodor Maria Nikolaus Johann Jacob Philipp Franz Joseph Sylvester Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg, German businessman and politician of the Christian Social Union (CSU), Minister for Economic Affairs and Technology and Minister of Defence of Germany
* Juan María Bordaberry, Uruguayan dictator
* Franz Joseph Hermann Michael Maria von Papen, Erbsälzer zu Werl und Neuwerk, German politician, diplomat, Prussian nobleman and General Staff officer