Marea
Feminine · “tide”
A mermaid is a mere-maid: a maid of the sea. Old English mere meant a lake or the sea, and it is the same word as Latin mare, inherited from a common ancestor rather than borrowed. Marea is that Latin word's descendant in Italian and Spanish, where it means the tide.
How old is the name Marea?
Marea first appears in US birth records in 1892 — 133 years ago. The typical Marea alive today was born around 1979, making them about 46 years old. About 500 people named Marea are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Marea most popular?
Marea peaked in 1895, reaching #1426 nationally. Today it ranks #11932, 10,506 places below that high. See the whole 1895 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From mare to Marea
The story of Marea
Mare and mere are cognates, which means they descend from the same word in a language spoken before Latin or English existed. Latin kept mare for the sea and built marinus, maritimus and, later, marea for the tide. English kept mere for an inland lake — it survives in Windermere and in a few dialects — and used it in the compound mermaid, which is why the word contains a sea that nobody notices. Marea in Spanish and Italian is entirely ordinary: marea alta is high tide. As a name it has been used quietly in American records since the nineteenth century, and whether those families meant the tide or meant Maria is not recorded.
Meaningscholars disagree
tide
Italian and Spanish marea, the tide, from Latin mare, the sea. As an American name it may be that word or a respelling of Maria, whose own meaning has never been established. The two are not related: any link between Mary and the sea comes from a copyist's error in a Latin gloss.
How the name formed
- mare
- marea
Related forms: Marea · Marea
Pronouncing Marea
muh-RAY-uh
Three syllables, stress in the middle. In Spanish and Italian it is mah-REH-ah, with the same stress and fuller vowels. muh-REE-uh, following Maria, is also used here.
Nicknames for Marea
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1892
- Most girls named
- 200515 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1426reached in 1895
- Change vs 2022
- +40.0%7 in 2025, from 5
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Marea in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Marea in Italian — related form
- Marea in Spanish — related form
Mareas among us
people named Marea are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 229,610 born in 2025 was named Marea
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Marea sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Marea beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Marea in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One of its two possible sources is an ordinary word in two living languages.
- Three open syllables with nothing hard to say in any of them.
- It is uncommon in English without being unfamiliar to Spanish or Italian speakers.
- It will be heard and written as Maria or Mariah by most people.
- The middle vowel is said two ways and the spelling settles neither.
- Very few people carry it, and those who do are spread across a century.
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Marea
Feminine · #11932 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Mareas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Marea are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Marea in 2025?
- Marea ranks #11932 among US girl names in 2025, with 7 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Marea?
- About 1 in every 229,610 US girls born in 2025 was named Marea — 7 in all.
- Will my child share the name Marea with classmates?
- Marea will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Marea
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Vina#11932 · Retta#11932 · Missouri#11932 · Iola#11932 · Eddie#11932 · Thomas#11932 · Louetta#11932 · Elvina#11932
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Marea? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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