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Mary (name)

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Mary
The Glorification of Mary by Botticelli. The reverence for Mary, the mother of Jesus, is in large part responsible for the use of the name Mary and its variants.
Pronunciation/ˈmɛəˌri/
GenderFemale
Name daySeptember 12
Origin
Word/nameAramaic and Hebrew via Latin and Greek
Meaning"beloved", "bitter", "drop of the sea", "marine", "rebelliousness", "wished-for child"
Other names
Related namesMaria, Marie, Miriam and other variants, such as Molly

Mary /ˈmɛəˌri/ is a feminine given name, the English form of the name Maria, which was in turn a Latin form of the Greek name Μαρία, María or Μαριάμ, Mariam, found in the Septuagint and New Testament. The latter reflects the original Hebrew pronunciation of the name מרים (Masoretic pronunciation Miryam), as attested by the Septuagint. The vowel "a" in a closed unaccented syllable later became "i", as seen in other names such as "Bil'am" (Balaam) and "Shimshon" (Samson).

Etymology

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Further information: Miriam (given name)

The English name Mary arises by adoption of French Marie into Middle English. Wycliffe's Bible still has Marie, with the modern spelling current from the 16th century, found in the Tyndale Bible (1525), Coverdale Bible (1535) and later translations.

The name Mary may have originated from the Egyptian language; it is likely derivative of the root mr, meaning "love; beloved"[1] (compare mry.t-ymn, "Merit-Amun", i.e. "beloved of Amun").

The name Mary was early etymologized as containing the Hebrew root mr, meaning "bitter" (cf. myrrh), or mry, meaning "rebellious". St. Jerome (writing c. 390), following Eusebius of Caesarea, translates the name as "drop of the sea" (stilla maris in Latin), from the Hebrew מר, mar, 'drop' (cf. Isaiah 40:15)[2] and ים, yam, 'sea'. This translation was subsequently rendered stella maris ("star of the sea") due to scribal error, whence Our Lady's title Star of the Sea.[1]

Usage

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See also: Maria (given name) § Variants and usage, Mariah (given name), Maryam (name), Maya (given name), and Molly (name) § Usage

Mary is among the top 100 names for baby girls born in Ireland,[3] common among Christians and popular among Protestants specifically, owing to Queen Mary II. Mary was the 179th most popular name for girls born in England and Wales in 2007.[citation needed]

In the United States, Mary was consistently the most popular name for girls from 1880 until 1961. It was still the most common name for women and girls in the United States in the 1990 census.[4] Mary first fell below the top 100 most popular names in 2009. However, according to the Social Security Administration, Mary is the seventh most common given name in the United States, with 2.16 million individuals bearing this name as of 2023.[5]

The name Mary remains more popular in the Southern United States than elsewhere in the country. Mary was the 15th most popular name for girls born in Alabama in 2007,[6] the 22nd most popular name for girls born in Mississippi in 2007,[6] the 44th most popular name for girls in North Carolina,[6] the 33rd most popular name for girls in South Carolina,[6] and the 26th most popular name for girls in Tennessee.[6]

People

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Biblical figures

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Royalty

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Non-royal aristocrats

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Politicians

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Other people

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Disambiguation pages

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This section lists links to pages listing people of the same name.

Fictional characters

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See also: Mary § Fictional characters

See also

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Footnotes

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Citations

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  1. ^ a b A. Maas, "The Name of Mary", The Catholic Encyclopedia (1912), citing Fr. von Hummelauer (in Exod. et Levit., Paris, 1897, p. 161)
  2. ^ Isaiah 40:15
  3. ^ Campbell, Mike. "Meaning, origin and history of the name Mary". Behind the Name. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
  4. ^ Campbell, Mike. "Popularity for the name Mary". Behind the Name. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
  5. ^ "Wolfram Alpha: Mary". January 1, 2020. Archived from the original on August 2, 2023. Retrieved September 8, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  6. ^ a b c d e OACT. "Popular Baby Names". www.ssa.gov. Retrieved 8 October 2018.

References

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  • Rosenkrantz, Linda; Satran, Pamela Redmond (2005). Beyond Jennifer and Jason, Madison and Montana (4th ed.). St. Martin's Paperbacks. ISBN 0-312-94095-5.
  • Todd, Loreto (1998). Celtic Names for Children. Irish American Book Company. ISBN 0-9627855-6-3.
  • Wallace, Carol (2004). The Penguin Classic Baby Name Book. Penguin. ISBN 0-14-200470-7.
  • Wood, Jamie Martinez (2001). ¿Cómo te llamas, Baby?. Berkley. ISBN 0-425-17959-1.
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