A female name. Latin form of Mary (q.v.); came into fashion in England in the 18th C and lasted well into the 19th C.

A female name. (French Marie, It, German Maria, Rlus Marya, Masha); Hebrew 'rebellion’. This is the same as Miriam (q.v.), the name of the sister of Moses and Aaron. The consonants of the Hebrew word are M-R-Y-M, and when vowels were inserted in about the 7th C it became Miryam; the Septuagint, however, vocalized it as Μαριάμ (Mariam), and this is the usual form in the Greek New Testament both for the Blessed Virgin and for Mary sister of Lazarus, while Μαριά (Maria) is most often used for the other Marys. The Vulgate (probably owing to a mistaken idea that Mariam was an accusative in -am) adopted Maria for all of them. The name of the Blessed Virgin was long held to be too sacred for common use. The Sienese, for example, would allow no woman so named to practise the calling of a prostitute. In Spain, girls whom it was wished to place under the patronage of the Blessed Virgin were given names connected with her life or attributes, e.g. Dolores, Mercedes, Asunción, &c. From the 12th C, however, the name Mary gradually came into use in western Europe, and its growing popularity reflects the growing devotion felt to her. It is an indication of that growth that Bede in his list of churches gives only 3 dedicated to Our Lady; such dedications increased from the 12th C onwards, and there are now twice as many of them as of the next most common, those to St Peter. Mary is first found as a christian name in England at the end of the 12th C; the diminutive Mariot is found about the same time; its use increased slowly during the next 3 centuries, Mary, Mariot, Marion, and the nicknames Mall and Moll (cf. Hal from Harry) becoming moderately common and giving rise to such surnames as Maris, Marrison, Marrian, Marriot, Marriott, Marryat, Malleson, Mollison, &c. Mary suffered an eclipse after the Reformation and was seldom used during Elizabeth’s reign; it began to come back into use in the middle of the 17th C, and by the middle of the 18th C nearly 20 per cent. of female children in England were baptized in this name. In Ireland, where a quarter of the women are now called Mary, it was hardly used before the 17th C. In Irish Muire is the form used for Our Lady, Maire or Moire being the christian name. Several of the diminutive and pet- forms of the name are noticed separately, e.g. Marion, Mariel. Mariot, which was the most usual diminutive in the Middle Ages, was used in Cornwall as late as 1725, but has now long been obsolete. Mally, which was formerly much commoner than Molly, died out at the end of the 18th C. Polly is a rhyming nickname formed from Molly (cf. Peg from Meg). The French Marie, Mariette, Marianne, Manon are all occasionally used in England. For Maria see separate article. May is a late- 19th-C coinage. The use of Mary as a second name (for men as well as women) arose on the Continent in Roman Catholic countries in the 16th C, and has often been adopted by English Roman Catholics.

Maria Curia Regis Rolls 1203-10. Mariota Curia Regis Rolls 1205, 1210, Hundred Rolls 1273. Mary Promptorium Parvulorum c. 1440. Malkyn Coventry Mysteries 15th C.

For the etymology, see Mary, its derivative. Maria, the Italian and Spanish form, was once in England a royal name: but now it is regarded as ‘ancillary’. Its associations with sanctity and religion appear to advantage in these verses forming the opening of a sonnet by Boccaccio : O Regina degli angioli, o Maria, Ch’ adorni il del co’tuo’ lieti sembianti, E, Stella in mar, dirizzi i naviganti A porto e segno di diretta via, Per la gloria ove sei, Vergine pia, Ti prego guardi a’ miei miseri pianti.

A name derived from Μαρια, one of the Greek forms of Miriam. Maria is found as a male name as well as a female name. Viscount Montague, of Cowdray, Sussex, who succeeded to the title as second viscount, was christened Anthony Maria Browne. In Camden’s Remains, referred to in Deliciæ Literariæ, occurs Thomas Maria Wingfield; and there was also a Sir Edward Maria Wingfield. The name appears to havé been adopted in the latter family from Mary, daughter of Henry VIII. Conf. N. Q. 5th S. ii. 73,316, 478. Marie is frequently found as a male name in France and in other parts of the Continent.

Hebrew (feminine) - Bitterness.