What was Mary's surname?

Answer 1

There are three main 'Maries' in the New Testament, Mary the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene the follower of Jesus and Mary the sister or Martha and Lazarus, who were friends of Jesus.

There were no surnames in Biblical times. Only first names were used. However, if there were two people with the same name then another feature would be used to distinguish between them (such as the town they came from, or their occupation, or their hair colour). This system was used in more modern times with names such as Butcher, Baker, Tailor (or Taylor), Brown, White and so on. Another means of distinguishing those with the same first name was to give their father's name, such as "David Johnson" (ie David, son of John), or "Peter Richardson" (Peter son of Richard). In Biblical times the term 'bar' was used to denote 'son of'. So Judas Barabbas would be 'Judas, son of Abbas'. In another example, that of the disciple Thomas, we are told that he was a twin and so he was called 'Thomas Didymis' ('Thomas the twin').

In the case of Mary Magdalene, her second name came from the town where she grew up - Magdala. In the case of Mary, sister of Lazarus and Martha, she would have been known as Mary of Bethany (as this was the village where she and her brother and sister lived). However, no 'other name' has been given for Mary, mother of Jesus. She might have been known as 'Mary of Bethlehem', or 'Mary of Nazareth', or simply, 'Mary the mother of Jesus' (a title used several times in the gospels).

Answer 2

St. Anne was the mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary.