Maria en · PROPN · etymology 1
Pronunciation
- (Southern-England) audio
- /məˈɹiːə/ (usually)
- /məˈɹaɪə/ also especially the variant "Mariah"
Etymology
Etymology tree Biblical Hebrew מִרְיָם (miryɔm)bor. Aramaic מריםbor. Koine Greek Μᾰρῐ́ᾱ (Mărĭ́ā)bor. Latin Mariabor. English Maria Borrowed from Latin Maria, borrowed from Koine Greek Μᾰρῐ́ᾱ (Mărĭ́ā), borrowed from Aramaic מרים, borrowed from Biblical Hebrew מִרְיָם (miryɔm). Doublet of Mary, Marie, and Miriam.
Meanings
-
A female given name from Hebrew.
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.
2025 September 19, Alisha Ebrahimji, Emma Tucker, “Chicago-area mayor says federal agents teargassed him at a protest outside an ICE facility”, in CNN: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
1957, “Maria”, in Stephen Sondheim (lyrics), Leonard Bernstein (music), West Side Story: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.
1776, Adam Fitz-Adam: The World of Adam Fitz-Adam. Edinburgh, Apollo Press 1776: Numb. 187. Thursday, July 29, 1756Yet 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.
1629, Thomas Adams, Meditations upon Creed, The Works of Thomas Adams, James Nichol (1862), volume 3, page 211
- Synonym of Mary, mother of Jesus, in Latin, Spanish, etc. contexts.
- A surname originating as a matronymic.
Deriveds
Villa Maria Clara · Sta. Maria · Maria Clara gown · Maria Island
Synonyms
Spanish · in Latin · mother of Jesus · Mary
Translations (1)
chr ᎹᏫᎠ (female given name)