Maria
Feminine · “Uncertain”
Maria is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 566,111 girls against 4,278 boys since 1880. See Maria as a boy name
Maria is the form the name took in Greek and Latin, and it has been written that way, unchanged, for roughly two thousand years. Three vowels and a rolling middle syllable make it easy in almost any language — it is at home in Spanish, Italian, Polish, Portuguese and German without a single letter moving. Few names have traveled so far while staying so exactly themselves.
How old is the name Maria?
Maria was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Maria alive today was born around 1975, making them about 50 years old. About 470,000 people named Maria are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Maria most popular?
Maria peaked in 1975, reaching #30 nationally. Today it ranks #87, 57 places below that high. See the whole 1975 chart.
Where it comes from
From Miryam to Maria
The story of Maria
The name begins as Miryam in the Hebrew Bible, borne by the sister of Moses. When Jewish scholars in Alexandria translated those scriptures into Greek, they wrote it Mariam, and Greek and Latin writers settled on Maria — the spelling the Latin New Testament carried into every corner of the Roman world. Through the Middle Ages it spread with Christianity across Europe, becoming Marie in France, Mary in England, María in Spain, Mariya in Russia, while Maria itself stayed in constant use in Italy, Iberia, Poland and the German-speaking lands. It reached the United States by many separate roads, which is part of why it still reads as fully American and fully international at once.
Meaningscholars disagree
Uncertain; the leading readings are 'beloved' and 'bitter'
Maria descends from Hebrew Miryam, whose origin was already unclear to ancient commentators. Some scholars trace it to Egyptian mry, 'beloved', which fits a name borne in a period of Egyptian influence; an older tradition read it through Hebrew mar, 'bitter'. The familiar 'star of the sea' gloss comes from a medieval Latin reading of the name as stella maris and is not an etymology of the Hebrew.
Cultural footprint
Maria Montessori (b. 1870) — Physician who created the Montessori method of education
Maria Callas (b. 1923) — The century's most famous opera diva
Maria Goeppert Mayer (b. 1906) — Nobel Prize-winning physicist
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
How the name formed
- Miryam
- Mariam
- Maria
- Marie
- Mary
Related forms: María · Marie · Mary · Mariya · Máire · Miryam
Pronouncing Maria
muh-REE-uh
Spanish and Italian speakers say mah-REE-ah, with a cleaner first vowel and a trilled or tapped r. An older English pronunciation, muh-RY-uh, survives in some hymn and song traditions and in a few families, so it is worth stating your preference once and letting it settle.
Nicknames for Maria
High
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
- 2017 — Hurricane Maria
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 19639,854 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #30reached in 1975
- Change vs 2022
- +1.3%2,887 in 2025, from 2,849
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.
Maria in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- María in Spanish — spelling variant
- Marie in French — same name
- Mary in English — same name
- Mariya in Russian — transliteration
- Máire in Irish — same name
- Miryam in Hebrew — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida. INSEE rounds every published count to the nearest five for statistical confidentiality; the ranks are calculated from the exact figures. International figures from INSEE, Statistics Canada, Office for National Statistics. Sources
Marias among us
people named Maria are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 557 born in 2025 was named Maria
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Maria
- #87
- Maria on the 2025 chart
- #73
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Maria went to 2,887 girls in 2025, but Mariah, Mariyah and Mariya are the same name said out loud. Together the 6 spellings went to 3,722, which makes it the 73rd most-given girls’ name of the year — 14 places above the chart.
and 2 rarer spellings.
About 1 girl in 432 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 557 for Maria itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Peggy test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Maria's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Peggy climbed just as high around 1937, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Peggy's path sketches the road Maria is walking now.
Maria has held the top-100 across 8 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Maria is headed
Maria should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Maria beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Maria in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled the same way in Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish and German — no explaining, no correcting, in most of the languages a family is likely to meet.
- Currently charts in France, Canada and England and Wales as well as the United States, so it travels without becoming a foreign name anywhere.
- Two thousand years of unbroken written use, and it still turns up on class lists — long history without feeling like a costume.
- Several established short forms ready to go, from Mia and Ria to Masha, none of which need inventing.
- Strongly represented across older generations, so it will be immediately recognized by adults while being uncommon among children.
- Two pronunciations circulate in English, muh-REE-uh and the older muh-RY-uh. Most people will default to the first, but expect to correct the occasional stranger either way.
- The link to the Virgin Mary is direct and unmistakable, which many families want and some would rather avoid. It is not a connotation the name can shed.
- In Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking families the name is so widespread, often in compounds like María José, that there may already be a Maria or two among the relatives.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Maria to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Maria? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Maria
Feminine · #87 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Marias are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 470,000 people named Maria are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Maria?
- Maria is the most-used spelling in US records — 2,887 of the 3,722 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Mariah, Mariyah and Mariya.
- How popular is the name Maria in 2025?
- Maria ranks #87 among US girl names in 2025, with 2,887 babies given the name.
- How common is the name Maria?
- About 1 in every 557 US girls born in 2025 was named Maria — 2,887 in all.
- Will my child share the name Maria with classmates?
- Maria will almost certainly be the only one in school.
- What explains the spikes and dips on Maria's chart?
- Maria faded after 2017 — Hurricane Maria.
Ranked beside Maria
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Audrey#86 · Autumn#88 · Natalie#89 · Kennedy#85 · Sarah#90 · Addison#84 · Everly#91 · Lucia#83
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Maria? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Maria and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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