Maria is a female given name in many diverse cultures. 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) ("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.

In Latin, maria can be roughly translated as "from the sea".

Usage

See Special:Whatlinkshere/Etymology:Maria for a list of articles using this term.

This is an etymology page: a page detailing the origins of terminology used in the series in regards to real world culture and history.