Date
Gender Feminine & Masculine
Usage Italian, Portuguese, Catalan, Occitan, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Faroese, Dutch, Frisian, Greek, Polish, Romanian, English, Finnish, Estonian, Corsican, Sardinian, Basque, Armenian, Russian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian, Biblical Greek [1], Biblical Latin, Old Church Slavic
Scripts Μαρία(Greek) Մարիա(Armenian) Мария(Russian, Bulgarian) Марія(Ukrainian) Маріа(Church Slavic)
Pronounced Pron. /ma.ˈri.a/(Italian, Romanian) /mɐ.ˈɾi.ɐ/(European Portuguese) /ma.ˈɾi.ɐ/(Brazilian Portuguese) /mə.ˈɾi.ə/(Catalan) /ma.ˈʁiː.a/(German) /ma.ˈriː.a/(Swedish) mah-REE-ah(Norwegian, Danish) /maː.ˈri.aː/(Dutch) /ma.ˈɾi.a/(Greek, Basque) /ˈmar.ja/(Polish) /mə.ˈɹiː.ə/(English) /ˈmɑ.ri.ɑ/(Finnish) /mɐ.ˈrʲi.jə/(Russian) /mɐ.ˈrʲi.jɐ/(Ukrainian)
Meaning & History
Latin form of Greek Μαρία, from Hebrew מִרְיָם (see Mary). Maria is the usual form of the name in many European languages, as well as a secondary form in other languages such as English (where the common spelling is Mary). In some countries, for example Germany, Poland and Italy, Maria is occasionally used as a masculine middle name.This was the name of two ruling queens of Portugal. It was also borne by the Habsburg queen Maria Theresa (1717-1780), whose inheritance of the domains of her father, the Holy Roman emperor Charles VI, began the War of the Austrian Succession.