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Maria

 
Wikipedia: Maria (given name)
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This article is about the given name. For other uses, see Maria (disambiguation).
Maria
Gender: Female
Origin: Roman, Arabic
Meaning: Hebrew meaning: "Beloved/love". Roman meaning is uncertain, probably related to Mars or the sea or means "musculine" (see Marius).

Maria is a female (but occasionally male) given name in many diverse cultures, including African, Armenian, Bulgarian, Catalan, Croatian, English, German, Greek, Italian, Maltese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Romanian, Serbian, Swedish, Spanish as well as in India.

It became popular with the spread of Christianity as a Latinized form of the Hebrew name of Jesus' mother Mary (Miriam in Hebrew). The meaning of the name is uncertain, but it may originally be an Egyptian name, probably derived from mry "beloved" or mr "love" [1] ("eminent lady" or "beloved lady"), although it was used in Europe even before the establishment of Christianity as a female form of the Roman name Marius.[2] Historically the name was also sometimes used as a male (middle) name. This was the case in many Central European countries where it signified patronage of the Virgin Mary.

As a first name, Maria ranked seventh out of 4,275 for females of all ages in the 1990 U.S. Census.[3] Because of its enduring popularity, the name is used extensively in society and media throughout the world.

Maria has in Latin been associated with the noun mare, meaning "[the] sea". So a punning reflection of Maria is Stella Maris, or "star of the sea".

Contents

Notable people named Maria

Religious

Royalty

See also

Artists

Authors

Scientists

Actresses

Singers/bands

Sports

Music

Models

Politicians and political activists

Television hosts

As male middle name

As female middle name

Media

Songs

Novels

Television

Culture

Languages

Food

  • Maria-mole, dessert popular in Brazil that is similar to a marshmallow
  • Marie biscuit, type of sweet biscuit similar to a Rich Tea biscuit, also known as a Maria biscuit
  • Golden Maria Cocktail- Mango Juice, Lime, Mint leaves and soda with white rum

Astronomy

Other

Trivia

 Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (November 2008)
  • In Mexico, it is a tradition to name the firstborn daughter Maria.
  • In pre-20th century Britain, the name Maria was usually pronounced "Mariah". However, during the 20th century the popularity of this pronunciation was eclipsed by the Italian, Spanish and Portuguese pronunciation, "Ma-ree-a".

See also

References

  1. ^ Behind the Name article on Mary
  2. ^ Microsoft Word - TESIS M Morales Cara .doc
  3. ^ Think Baby Names

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

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