Given name & surname
Meriam
Meriam is a feminine given name from Arabic. It is used in Malay.
Meaning & origin
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1897. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin. Meriam is a variant of Miriam. The history of Miriam gives this family its wider story. Miriam appears in biblical tradition, giving it a longstanding religious and cultural context.
Combines direct and name-family evidence
Meriam through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 1,391
- 0 boys · 1,391 girls
- Most popular year
- 1923
- 35 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −38%
- Cooling
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for girls is 10 in 2024. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for girls was 35 in 1923. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 1,414 as a first name in 2020; 131 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.
Meriam’s family of names
Meriam shares an earlier linguistic root with Maria. Meriam has a conventional equivalent in the English form Mary. Meriam has a related form in Miriam.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Meriam has relatives in 3 languages. Lines run from its Arabic roots to each of them.
5 related names in 3 languages. Point at a dot, or tab to the map and use the arrow keys.
Nicknames & forms 1
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 2
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 4
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Meriam
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Meriam, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Marthena
“lady”
>99% girls
Matha
“lady”
>99% girls
Rubenia
“behold, a daughter!”
>99% girls
Mima
“our little dove” · “dove”
>99% girls
Ruthetta
“compassion” · “a beloved companion”
>99% girls
Abra
“father of a multitude (of nations)” · “father of a multitude; father of nations”
>99% girls
Bloomie
“who is like God?”
>99% girls
Homon
Homon is a given name, probably from Biblical Hebrew, ultimately from Old Persian. It is used in Judeo-Tat.
—