Given name & surname
Mara
“a grieving woman; one who is sorrowful”
Mara is used as a given name and a surname. One Hebrew interpretation is “a grieving woman; one who is sorrowful.”
Original Hebrewמרה
Meaning & origin
What it means
One Hebrew interpretation is “a grieving woman; one who is sorrowful.”
Where it comes from
A possible origin is Hebrew, although the derivation remains uncertain.
How it developed
In Finnish usage, Mara is a diminutive of Martti.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1892. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
In the Bible
In the Bible, the name Mara appears in Ruth 1:20.
From biblical name research
Mara through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 24,054
- 16 boys · 24,038 girls
- Most popular year
- 2021
- 568 babies
- 2025
- 499
- #589 for girls
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- +17%
- Rising
Where it’s given
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 499 U.S. birth records for girls, ranking No. 589 among girls’ names. Average annual use for girls was 17.0% higher in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. In 2025, California had the largest reported state-level birth count for girls with this name (57). Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 24,761 as a first name in 2020; 2,475 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Mara’s family of names
In Finnish usage, Mara is a diminutive of Martti. In French usage, Mara has a related form in Marie. In German usage, Mara has a conventional equivalent in the English form Marah.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Mara has relatives in 6 languages. Lines run from its Hebrew roots to each of them.
Hebrewwhere Mara comes from · 1 name
Nicknames & forms 9
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
- Marievariant · French
- Marahvariant · English
- Mahravariant
- Marravariant
- Maralinevariant
- Maralindavariant
- Maralinavariant
- Marttifull form · Finnish
Show 1 moreShow fewer
Spellings & scripts 4
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 3
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
See also 17
Names our sources mention alongside this one. They are related in story or meaning, not forms of this name.
People named Mara
- Mara WilsonAmerican actressborn 1987
- Mara SantangeloItalian tennis playerborn 1981
- Mara CordayAmerican actor and model (1930–2025)
- Mara NavarriaItalian fencerborn 1985
- Mara VenierItalian actress and television presenterborn 1950
- Mara AbbottAmerican racing cyclistborn 1985
- Mara ScherzingerGerman actressborn 1989
- Mara Takla Haymanotruler of Ethiopia900–1199
- Mara BunevaBulgarian revolutionary1902–1928
Characters named Mara: Mara Jade (the Star Wars universe).
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Mara, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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