Maryam (name)

Maryam
	Ottoman miniature of Maryam (Mary)
Pronunciation	Arabic: [ˈmarjam]; Hebrew: [mirˈjam]; Persian: [mæɾˈjæm]; Amharic: [marˈjam]; Malayalam: [marijam]
Gender	feminine
Language(s)	Arabic, Syro-Aramaic, Amharic, Tigrinya, Armenian, Georgian, Persian
Origin
Word/name	Hebrew (Possibly from Egyptian)
Region of origin	Ancient Near East
Other names
Related names	Maria, Mariah, Marie, Marija, Mariya, Mary, Merieme, Meryem, Miriam, Miryam, Myriam, Mia

Maryam or Mariam is the Aramaic form of the biblical name Miriam (the name of the prophetess Miriam, the sister of Moses). It is notably the name of Mary the mother of Jesus.[1][2][3] The spelling in the Semitic abjads is mrym (Hebrew מרים, Aramaic ܡܪܝܡ, Arabic مريم), which may be vowelized in a number of ways (Meriem, Miryam, Miriyam, Mirijam, Marium, Maryam, Mariyam, Marijam, Meryem, Merjeme, etc.)

Via its use in the New Testament the name has been adopted worldwide, especially in Roman Catholicism, but also in Eastern Christianity, in Protestantism, and in Islam. In Latin Christianity, the Greek form Mariam was adopted as latinate Maria (whence French Marie and English Mary). Forms retaining the final -m are found throughout the Middle East, in Arabic, Armenian, Georgian, Urdu, and Persian, as well as the Horn of Africa, including Amharic, Tigrinya, and Somali, Turkish and Azerbaijani Məryəm and in Malayalam as Mariyam in south India.

Etymology

The name may have originated from the Egyptian language; in a suggestion going back to 1897, it is possibly derivative of the root mr "love; beloved" [4] (compare mry.t-ymn "Merit-Amun", i.e. "beloved of Amun"). Maas (1912) references (but rejects) a 1906 suggestion interpreting the name as "beloved of Yahweh".[5] Maas (1912) further proposes possible derivation from Hebrew, either from marah "to be rebellious", or (more likely) from mara "well nourished".[6]

The name has a long tradition of scholarly etymologisation; some seventy suggestions are treated by Otto Bardenhewer in monographic form in his Der Name Maria (1895). It was early etymologized as containing the Hebrew root mr "bitter" (cf. myrrh), or mry "rebellious". St. Jerome (writing c. 390), following Eusebius of Caesarea, translates the name as "drop of the sea" (stilla maris in Latin), from Hebrew מר mar "drop" (cf. Isaiah 40:15) and ים yam "sea". This translation was subsequently rendered stella maris ("star of the sea") due to scribal error, whence the Virgin Mary's title Star of the Sea.[4] Rashi, an 11th-century Jewish commentator on the Bible, wrote that the name was given to the sister of Moses because of the Egyptians' harsh treatment of Jews in Egypt. Rashi wrote that the Israelites lived in Egypt for two hundred ten years, including eighty-six years of cruel enslavement that began at the time Moses' elder sister was born. Therefore, the girl was called Miriam, because the Egyptians made life bitter (מַר, mar) for her people.[7]

Modern given name

Modern given names derived from Aramaic Maryam are frequent in Christian culture, as well as, due to the Quranic tradition of Mary, extremely frequently given in Islamic cultures. There are a large number of variants and derivations.

The New Testament gives the name as both Mariam (Μαριάμ) and Maria (Μαρία). The Latin Vulgate uses the first declension, Maria.

Maryam is the now-usual English-language rendition of the Arabic name. The spelling Mariyam (in German-language contexts also Marijam) is sometimes used as a close transcription from Hebrew, Aramaic or Arabic.

The spelling Mariam is current in transliteration from Georgian and Armenian, and in German-language transliteration from Aramaic or Arabic. Mariam was also a current spelling in early modern English, as in the Jacobean era play The Tragedy of Mariam.

Derived names

Maryam as the name of Mary mother of Jesus is also part of given names consisting of genitive constructions (idafa) in Ethiopian tradition, such as Haile Mariam "power of Mary", Baeda Maryam "Hand of Mary", several people Newaya Maryam "Property of Mary" or Takla Maryam "Plant of Mary", used as masculine given names. In Arabic, Marwan, meaning "one who is fragrant like myrrh", could be the masculine form of Maryam.

Ustad Ali Maryam, architect in 19th century Persia, added Maryam to his name after building a house for an important woman with that name.

People named Maryam

Notable people with the name Maryam

Maryam Abacha (born 1945), widow of Sani Abacha, de facto President of Nigeria from 1993 to 1998
Maryam Babangida (1948–2009), wife of Nigeria's head of state from 1985 to 1993
Maryam d'Abo (born 1960), English film and television actress
Maryam Fatima, Pakistani actress
Maryam Khan (born 1989), American politician
Maryam Matar (born 1975), Emirati geneticist and medical researcher
Maryam Mirzakhani (1977–2017), Iranian mathematician
Maryam Monsef (born 1984), Afghan Canadian politician
Maryam Nemazee, Iranian British broadcast journalist
Maryam Nawaz Sharif (born 1973), Pakistani politician
Maryam Omar (born 1993), Kuwaiti-born Palestinian cricketer
Maryam Rajavi (born 1953), leader of the People's Mujahedin of Iran
Maryam Salour (born 1954), Iranian visual artist
Maryam Shanechi, Iranian-American neuro engineers
Maryam Yakubova (born 1931), Uzbek educator
Maryam Zakaria, Swedish-Iranian actress
Maryam Tanveer Ali, popularly known as Maya Ali, Pakistani television actress
Mariam Mamadashvili Winner of Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016

Notable people with spelling variations of the name Maryam

Mariam A. Aleem (1930–2010), Egyptian artist and academic
Mariam Ansari, Pakistani film actress
Marriyum Aurangzeb, Pakistani politician
Mariam Brahim (born 1956), Chadian physician
Mariam Mirza, Pakistani television actress and beautician
Marium Mukhtiar, a Pakistan Air Force pilot who died in fighter jet crash
Mariyam Nafees, Pakistani television actress

References

Patrick Hanks, Kate Hardcastle and Flavia Hodges (2006). A Dictionary of First Names. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198610602.
Janie Steen (2008). Verse and Virtuosity: The Adaptation of Latin Rhetoric in Old English Poetry. University of Toronto Press Incorporated. ISBN 978-0-8020-9157-4.
The Holy Qur'an: Maryam (Mary), Sura 19 (Translation by A. Yusuf Ali)
A. Maas, "The Name of Mary", The Catholic Encyclopedia (1912), citing Franz von Hummelauer (in Exod. et Levit., Paris, 1897, p. 161)
citing Zorrell, Zeitschrift für katholische Theologie, 1906, pp. 356 sqq.
"the name miryam may be derived either from marah, to be rebellious, or from mara, to be well nourished. Etymology does not decide which of these derivations is to be preferred; but it is hardly probable that the name of a young girl should be connected with the idea of rebellion, while Orientals consider the idea of being well nourished as synonymous with beauty and bodily perfection, so that they would be apt to give their daughters a name derived from mara" A. Maas, "The Name of Mary", The Catholic Encyclopedia (1912).
Rashi. "Commentary on Shir Hashirim (Song of Songs)". p. 2:13. "From the time that Miriam was born, the Egyptians intensified the bondage upon Israel; therefore, she was called Miriam, because they made it bitter (מַר) for them."

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[1] Patrick Hanks, Kate Hardcastle and Flavia Hodges (2006). A Dictionary of First Names. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198610602.

[2] Janie Steen (2008). Verse and Virtuosity: The Adaptation of Latin Rhetoric in Old English Poetry. University of Toronto Press Incorporated. ISBN 978-0-8020-9157-4.

[3] The Holy Qur'an: Maryam (Mary), Sura 19 (Translation by A. Yusuf Ali)

[Maas-4] A. Maas, "The Name of Mary", The Catholic Encyclopedia (1912), citing Franz von Hummelauer (in Exod. et Levit., Paris, 1897, p. 161)

[5] ting Zorrell, Zeitschrift für katholische Theologie, 1906, pp. 356 sqq.

[6] "the name miryam may be derived either from marah, to be rebellious, or from mara, to be well nourished. Etymology does not decide which of these derivations is to be preferred; but it is hardly probable that the name of a young girl should be connected with the idea of rebellion, while Orientals consider the idea of being well nourished as synonymous with beauty and bodily perfection, so that they would be apt to give their daughters a name derived from mara" A. Maas, "The Name of Mary", The Catholic Encyclopedia (1912).

[7] Rashi. "Commentary on Shir Hashirim (Song of Songs)". p. 2:13. "From the time that Miriam was born, the Egyptians intensified the bondage upon Israel; therefore, she was called Miriam, because they made it bitter (מַר) for them."