Maree
Feminine
Maree is Marie written the way English says it, and it is one of the very few American spellings that another English-speaking country adopted wholesale. In Australia and New Zealand this is not a variant — it is the standard way a whole generation of women spelled the name, common enough to be unremarkable on any class list.
How old is the name Maree?
Maree first appears in US birth records in 1894 — 131 years ago. The typical Maree alive today was born around 1951, making them about 74 years old. About 600 people named Maree are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Maree most popular?
Maree peaked in 1897, reaching #1167 nationally. See the whole 1897 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Marie, the French form of Mary to Maree
The story of Maree
The Australian and New Zealand story is the interesting one. Maree was in use there through most of the twentieth century as a first name and, overwhelmingly, as a second name — for a couple of generations, an enormous proportion of Australian women born in the 1950s and 1960s carry it in the middle slot, so much so that it functions there rather as Marie and Anne do in Ireland and France. It is a good example of a spelling settling differently in two countries that share a language, without either of them noticing that the other had chosen otherwise.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Behind it is Marie, the French form of Mary, whose own meaning has been argued over for two thousand years without agreement. What this spelling records is the English refusal to trust French orthography: an English reader given Marie will produce something between MAR-ee and muh-REE, and the two e sounds at the end of this version settle the matter. It is a phonetic spelling of a French name by people who were not going to be caught out.
How the name formed
- Marie, the French form of Mary
- English speakers write the name phonetically
- Maree becomes standard in Australia and New Zealand
- used in American records from the 1890s
- never common in America itself
Related forms: Marie · Mary · Mairi
Pronouncing Maree
muh-REE
Two syllables with the stress at the back, which the spelling makes obvious. Some American families front it, MAR-ee, which the letters permit equally well.
Nicknames for Maree
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
- 1894
- Most girls named
- 192223 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1167reached in 1897
- Change vs 2017
- +16.7%7 in 2020, from 6
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.
Maree in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Marie in French — spelling variant
- Mary in English — related form
- Mairi in Scots Gaelic — related form
Marees among us
people named Maree are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Maree sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- The spelling settles a pronunciation that the French version leaves open.
- It is one of the oldest and most widely used names in Europe in a plain modern dress.
- It works as a first name or a second name, which few names do equally well.
- In America it will be corrected to Marie constantly.
- The two possible stress placements are both in honest use.
- It reads as an Antipodean spelling to anyone who has spent time there.
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Maree
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Marees are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Maree are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Maree in 2025?
- Maree is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Maree with classmates?
- Maree will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More M names
The most-given names starting with M, all years combined.
Mary#125 · Margaret#112 · Michelle#465 · Melissa#419 · Maria#87 · Martha#712 · Marie#617 · Mildred#1962
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Maree? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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