Masha
Feminine · “Hebrew Miryam”
Masha is the everyday Russian form of Maria, and it is worth understanding what that means grammatically. Russian does not have one nickname per name; it has a whole system of them, each carrying a different degree of warmth. Maria gives Masha, Mashenka, Manya, Marusya and Mashka, and each is used in a different room.
How old is the name Masha?
Masha first appears in US birth records in 1951 — 74 years ago. The typical Masha alive today was born around 2009, making them about 16 years old. About 600 people named Masha are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Masha most popular?
Masha peaked in 2022, reaching #4295 nationally. Today it ranks #6838, 2,543 places below that high. See the whole 2022 chart.
Where it comes from
From Miryam to Masha
The story of Masha
Russian diminutive formation is regular: take the stressed syllable of the full name, replace the ending with -sha, -sha, or -nya, and then stack affectionate suffixes on top. Maria gives Masha; Masha gives Mashenka for tenderness and Mashka for rough affection or rudeness. Because the system is fully productive, a Russian speaker reads Masha as informal rather than as a name in its own right — which is not how it functions in American records, where it is simply a given name. The sharp recent rise, peaking in 2022, follows a widely watched animated series in which the child protagonist carries the name.
Meaningscholars disagree
Hebrew Miryam, of disputed meaning
Masha derives from Maria, from Greek Maria, from Hebrew Miryam. The original meaning is genuinely unresolved: proposals include "bitter", "beloved", "rebellious" and an Egyptian root mry, "beloved". No single reading is established. What is settled is the chain from Miryam to Masha.
How the name formed
- Miryam
- Maria
- Мария
- Маша
- Masha
Related forms: Маша · Мария (Maria) · Marysia · Máša · Molly
Pronouncing Masha
MAH-shuh
Two syllables, stress on the first, with a full AH. The final vowel is reduced in Russian too, so the American reading is close to the original. It is not MASH-uh with the vowel of cash.
Nicknames for Masha
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
- 1951
- Most girls named
- 202233 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #4295reached in 2022
- Change vs 2024
- −50.0%16 in 2025, from 32
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.
Masha in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Маша in Russian — same name
- Мария (Maria) in Russian — related form
- Marysia in Polish — related form
- Máša in Czech — same name
- Molly in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, California.
Mashas among us
people named Masha are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 100,454 born in 2025 was named Masha
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Assata test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Masha's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Assata climbed just as high around 2000, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Assata's path sketches the road Masha is walking now.
Masha 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
Masha beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Masha in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is warm and instantly likeable, which is what a diminutive is designed to be.
- It connects to Maria, one of the most-used names in human history.
- The pronunciation is unambiguous for English speakers.
- Russian speakers hear it as a nickname, not a full given name.
- The recent rise is closely tied to a single children's series.
- It has no formal register of its own unless Maria is given alongside.
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What they receive
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Masha
Feminine · #6838 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Mashas 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 Masha are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Masha in 2025?
- Masha ranks #6838 among US girl names in 2025, with 16 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Masha?
- About 1 in every 100,454 US girls born in 2025 was named Masha — 16 in all.
- Will my child share the name Masha with classmates?
- Masha will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Masha
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Malana#6838 · Jeannie#6838 · Maxie#6838 · Nicol#6838 · Chaney#6838 · Keana#6838 · Concetta#6838 · Pheobe#6838
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Masha? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Masha and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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