María

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Maria in BR Brazil, ES Spain, AR Argentina and 13 more, Mary in US United States, GB United Kingdom, PH Philippines and 3 more, Мария in RU Russia, BG Bulgaria and Marie in FR France.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 32 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

María is also recorded as 5 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• a separate given name55K records spelled María17 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Ecuador, United Kingdom, Spain

  Also written Maria, Mária, Mariâ, Marià, Mariá

• Vietnamese given name18K records spelled María25 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Spain, United States, Vietnam, Italy

  Languages: Vietnamese, Khmer

  Also written Maria, Mariya, Mária, Marìa, Marïa

• a separate given name1.0K records spelled María51 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Norway, Sweden, Spain

  Also written Maria, Mariä, Màrîä, M̶a̶r̶i̶a, M̶a̶r̶i̶a̶

• Hebrew surname588 records spelled María7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Israel, Spain, France, Bulgaria

  Also written ירחי, Mária, Mãřîã, Mariã, Mària

• a separate name259 records spelled María2 spellings in the group

  Also written Maria

54 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

María is also recorded in 4 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In Spanish, a female given name from Hebrew, equivalent to English Mary

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• Amada, deseada; también estrella marina o amarga

  as a name·25,000 nombres de bebé. La mejor guía para escoger el nombre adecuado

• In Asturian, a female given name, equivalent to English Mary

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Catalan, María (town in Andalucia)

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

CL SRCEI — Nombres más comunes (guaguas, 1920–2021) — 102 years between 1920–2021. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Anne d'Autricheb. 1601ESnot in their usual nameQueen, consort of Louis XIII, King of France, lived (1601-1666)
• Luisa de Guzmánb. 1613ESnot in their usual nameDuchess of Braganza; Queen consort of Portugal (1613-1666)
• Isabel II de Españab. 1830ESnot in their usual nameQueen of Spain from 1833 to 1868
• Alfonso XIIIb. 1886ESnot in their usual nameKing of Spain from 1886 to 1931 (1886–1941)
• José María Balcázarb. 1943PEPeruvian lawyer and politician, president of Peru (feb.-jul. 2026)
• Rosario Murillob. 1951NInot in their usual nameco-president of Nicaragua since 2025
• María Corina Machadob. 1967VEVenezuelan politician, activist and Nobel laureate (born 1967)
• Arantxa Sánchez Vicariob. 1971ESnot in their usual nameSpanish tennis player
• Cote de Pablob. 1979CLnot in their usual nameChilean-American actress
• José María Giménezb. 1995UYUruguayan association football player

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 318 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name María?

We estimate roughly 21 million people bear María (counting its spellings and scripts) across 12 countries in our records.

In which country does María have the most bearers?

María is most frequently recorded in Argentina, where it is most often spelled maria.

How common is María compared with other names?

In Argentina, María is the most common given name of 517,176 given names recorded there.

Is María a male or female name?

María is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name María mean?

Recorded meaning: From Hebrew Miriam, name of Moses’ sister and Aaron’s sister.