Merja

This is my beloved mother's name. It is believed that Merja is the name of an Ancient Finnish tribe but I've also read that Merja means Mistress of the Sea. My mother has always been fascinated by the sea and everything related to it, including our incredibly nautical home. I think in this way the name suits her perfectly. Meri means sea in Finnish so this makes sense to me. Since we live in Canada she is unfortunately frequently called Mer-ja as opposed to mer-yah. To make it easier for everyone she usually introduces herself as Maria. When my mother was in school (she was born in 1960), Merja was an incredibly popular name.