Given name
Marija
“woman of the sea”
Marija has a related form in Marina. One Latin interpretation is “woman of the sea.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
Marija has a related form in Marina. One Latin interpretation is “woman of the sea.”
Explained through its name family
Where it comes from
Marija has a related form in Marina. An origin associated with Marina is Late Latin.
Explained through its name family
How it developed
In Serbo-Croatian usage, Marija developed from Maria.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1962. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Marija through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 519
- 0 boys · 519 girls
- Most popular year
- 2008
- 21 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −69%
- Cooling
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for girls is 5 in 2024. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for girls was 21 in 2008. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 2,424 as a first name in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Marija’s family of names
In Serbo-Croatian usage, Marija has an affectionate form in Marica. In Latvian usage, Marija shares a linguistic root with the English form Mary. In Croatian usage, Marija has a conventional equivalent in the Italian form Maria.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Marija has relatives in 10 languages.
9 related names in 10 languages. Point at a dot, or tab to the map and use the arrow keys.
Nicknames & forms 3
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 5
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 13
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
- Mariaroot · Italian, German
- Marycognate · English
- MarieFrench
- Mariequivalent
- Micaequivalent
- Mariyaequivalent
- Myequivalent
- Merjemdoublet · Serbo-Croatian
Show 5 moreShow fewer
People named Marija
- Marija GimbutasLithuanian-American archaeologist1921–1994
- Marija ŠerifovićSerbian singerborn 1984
- Marija NaumovaLatvian singer and songwriter (born 1973)
- Mariya MuzychukUkrainian chess playerborn 1992
- Marija Pejčinović Burićpolitician of Croatiaborn 1963
- Marija ŠestićBosnian singerborn 1987
- Marija Jurić ZagorkaCroatian journalist, novelist, dramatist (1873–1957)
- Marija JovanovićMontenegrin handball playerborn 1985
- Marija VukovićMontenegrin athlete specializing in the high jumpborn 1992
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Marija, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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