Mara

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Māra in LV Latvia.

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 25 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◐

Mara is also recorded as 7 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• English given name337K records spelled Mara40 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Brazil, Netherlands, Germany

  Languages: English, German, Western Frisian

  Also written Marae, Māra, Mar-A, Mará, Marà

• Croatian given name144K records spelled Mara86 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Croatia, Syria, United States, Russia

  Languages: Croatian, Arabic, Russian

  Also written Marah, Мара, Mar'Ah, Марах, Mar’ah

• Hindi given name26K records spelled Mara16 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India, United States, Italy, Spain

  Languages: Hindi, Urdu

  Also written Māra, Màra, Mãrå, Mará, Marã

• a separate given name21K records spelled Mara8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, India, United Kingdom, Italy

  Also written Māra, Mará, Mára, Mářa, Mar̕a

• Italian given name19K records spelled Mara10 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Italy, United States, Spain, Philippines

  Also written Marà, Märä, Mará, Mãra, Mára

• Indonesian given name17K records spelled Mara8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India, Indonesia, Spain, Philippines

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay

  Also written Mar'A, Mar’a, Māra, Mará, Mãra

• Catalan given name10K records spelled Mara2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Spain

  Also written Mará

74 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●

Mara is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• from a pet form of the personal names Markus (Hungarian form of Marcus) or Mdrton (Hungarian form of Martin), or from a short form of the old ecclesiastical name Marcel (see Marcel).

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• from a pet form of the personal name Marek or Martin.

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• In English, A nightmare; a spectre or wraith-like creature in Germanic and particularly Scandinavian folklore; a female demon who torments people in sleep by crouching on their chests or stomachs, or by causing terrifying visions.

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

• In Spanish, people in one's in-group, crew, gang, squad

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

• In Portuguese, clipping of maravilhoso

  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●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 115 years between 1892–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Tekle Haymanotb. 900not in their usual nameruler of Ethiopia
• Mara Cordayb. 1930USAmerican actor and model (1930–2025)
• Mara Bernib. 1932ITItalian actress
• Mara Goyanesb. 1942ESSpanish actor and Vedette (1942-2006)
• Mara Venierb. 1950ITItalian actress and television presenter
• Mara Brock Akilb. 1970USAmerican screenwriter and television producer (born 1970)
• Mara Hobelb. 1971USAmerican actress
• Mara Santangelob. 1981ITItalian tennis player
• Mara Wilsonb. 1987USAmerican actress
• Mara HüsemannBRBrazilian actress

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 · 1,214 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Mara?

We estimate roughly 141 thousand people bear Mara (counting its spellings and scripts) across 11 countries in our records.

In which country does Mara have the most bearers?

Mara is most frequently recorded in Argentina, where it is most often spelled mara.

Where is Mara most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Mara is densest in Croatia — about 1 in 238 people — even though Argentina holds more of our records for it.

How common is Mara compared with other names?

In Argentina, Mara is the 468th most common given name of 517,176 given names recorded there.

Is Mara a male or female name?

Mara 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 Mara mean?

Recorded meaning: Swahili: 'a time'; also a river/place name