Mara
Meaning
means 'bitter'; the name Naomi takes in the Book of Ruth
The story
Mara is one spelling holding three separate names, and Behind the Name keeps a file on each. The first is biblical Hebrew: mara, bitter, the name Naomi takes for herself in the Book of Ruth after losing her husband and sons, one of scripture's rawest moments of honest grief. The second is a familiar shortening: a Hungarian variant of Mária and a Croatian, Serbian and Macedonian variant of Marija, with a name day in Croatia on August 15. The third belongs to Latvia, where Mara was the name of a mother goddess, possibly derived from Maria, as the source hedges it. The American record reaches back to six girls in the 1890s and rises through the century to 4,038 in the 2000s, with 3,039 so far this decade. Brazil's census counts 81,102, most from the mid-century decades when Mara was a Brazilian staple. Portugal still ranks it 40th, the Basque Country 17th. Three doors, one quiet, strong room.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Mara peaked in the 2000s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
Popularity in Brazil
81,102 people · the #378 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 2,506 · median age 49
Among people named Mara living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1960s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 548 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
The Mara deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Mara truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Mara fits with your family’s names and surname.
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