THE MEANING & THE CONTEXT
The story behind Maria
Maria is recorded as a female given name in Tagalog and Cebuano. The source gives a linguistic connection through Spanish, specifically the form María.
Pronunciation & syllables
Dictionary readings are kept by language. Select the reading that matches your intended pronunciation. Dots show the source’s written divisions; they are not a universal syllable count across languages.
Tagalog
- /maˈɾija/Standard-Tagalog
- [mɐˈɾiː.jɐ]Standard-Tagalog
- /maɾiˈja/Standard-Tagalog
- [mɐˈɾja]Standard-Tagalog
Ma · ri · a3 source divisions
Dictionary reading & contributors ↗English
- /məˈɹiːə/usually
- /məˈɹaɪə/also especially the variant "Mariah"
Wiktionary contributors / Kaikki / Wiktextract · CC BY-SA 4.0
Origin and name formation
Language-specific accounts from the dictionary. A shared spelling can have more than one history.
TagalogEtymology & source
Borrowed from Spanish María, from Latin Marīa, borrowed from Koine Greek Μᾰρῐ́ᾱ (Mărĭ́ā), borrowed from Aramaic מרים, borrowed from Biblical Hebrew מִרְיָם (miryɔm). Doublet of Mary.
a female given name from Spanish
CebuanoEtymology & source
From Spanish María.
a female given name from Hebrew
EnglishEtymology & source
Borrowed from Latin Maria, borrowed from Koine Greek Μᾰρῐ́ᾱ (Mărĭ́ā), borrowed from Aramaic מרים, borrowed from Biblical Hebrew מִרְיָם (miryɔm). Doublet of Mary, Marie, and Miriam.
A female given name from Hebrew.
Adapted from Wiktionary contributors via Kaikki/Wiktextract. Source accounts remain in their original English; editorial summaries and filters are adapted. Attribution and downloads
People with the name Maria
Public figures and other documented namesakes linked by an explicit given-name claim. This is a selection of records, not a popularity ranking.
DOCUMENTED NAMESAKE
Corazon Aquino
President of the Philippines from 1986 to 1992
DOCUMENTED NAMESAKE
Lea Salonga
Filipino actress and singer (born 1971)
The record establishes the name association, not the person’s intended meaning, pronunciation or ancestry. Descriptions are attributed to Wikidata contributors (CC0).
Use in Philippine-linked records
Public-record transcription
10
eligible source records · 2001
This spelling is reported in an openly licensed transcription of elected-candidate records. This is a record count, not a birth count or national popularity measure.
OpenHalalan / COMELEC ↗Wikidata
77
distinct person records with an explicit given-name claim
Community-edited coverage, not a census or birth registry. Examples: Corazon Aquino, Lea Salonga
PSA · OFFICIAL BIRTH RECORDS
Maria in the birth records
Exact spelling, stated year, published top-ten tables. Read the counts as individual snapshots.
Available publications: 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024. No 2021 count is inferred. Sex categories follow the official tables, independently of dictionary gender labels. Explore the official tables →
Related forms & spellings
Related forms may have their own language histories. They are not included in this spelling’s PSA count.
Similar names to Maria
Names with a similar opening or ending, ordered by spelling distance. Similar spelling does not imply the same meaning or origin.
Names in this collection
- Mara♀Name formation documented in dictionary sources
- Marga♀Given name documented in Philippine-linked records; lexical meaning not established here
- Mari♂♀Name formation documented in dictionary sources
- Mariam♀Given name documented in Philippine-linked records; lexical meaning not established here
- Marian♀Etymology uncertain; see source accounts
- Marie♀Name formation documented in dictionary sources
- Marina♀Etymology uncertain; see source accounts
- Mario♂Etymology uncertain; see source accounts
What rhymes with Maria?
Matches share a dictionary-supplied rhyme key in the stated language. Check the recorded reading; another language or accent can change the rhyme.
Recorded combinations with Maria
38 source-reported compound forms include this name as a component. Each part keeps its own history.
Names in this collection
- Diorella Maria·Recorded Philippine given-name form
- Jacinto Maria·Recorded Philippine given-name form
- Jose Maria♂Spanish form: José María
- Maria Alfreda·Recorded Philippine given-name form
- Maria Angeles·Recorded Philippine given-name form
- Maria Annabelle·Recorded Philippine given-name form
- Maria Beatriz♀Given name documented in Philippine-linked records; lexical meaning not established here
- Maria Belen·Recorded Philippine given-name form
Explore Maria further
Follow the sources
- OpenHalalan — pinned 2001 COMELEC transcription (opens in a new tab)
Source-reported given-name form in a row with a separate explicit middle initial; ODbL-1.0.
- COMELEC — 2001 List of Elected Candidates (opens in a new tab)
Original document identified by the transcription; selected PDF entries were spot-checked, not every imported row.
- Wikidata given-name item Q325872 — Maria (opens in a new tab)
Given-name identity, native labels, language associations and explicit class where present; not lexical meaning or population frequency.
- Wikidata given-name item Q25413386 — Maria (opens in a new tab)
Given-name identity, native labels, language associations and explicit class where present; not lexical meaning or population frequency.
- Wikidata — Corazon Aquino (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q325872 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wikidata — Lea Salonga (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q325872 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wiktionary contributors — Maria (Tagalog) (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name sense and separately attributed etymology; no birth-frequency claim.
- Wiktionary contributors — Maria (Cebuano) (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name sense and separately attributed etymology; no birth-frequency claim.
- Wiktionary contributors — Maria (English) (opens in a new tab)
Language-specific given-name etymology; shared spelling does not prove every bearer has this origin.