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Maria

From ancient Hebrew, where it carries two readings at once: bitter, or dearly loved. Today it sits among the five most-given girls' names in Poland, though fewer parents pick it each year than a decade ago.

Maria Pronunciation

Maria is pronounced MAHR-yah (/ˈmarja/).

Alive in 2025
576,120
Newborns 2025
2,536
National rank
#5
Next name day
12 September
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What Maria means

Where Maria comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.

Maria began in Hebrew, in the older name Miryam. For centuries scholars have argued over what it meant, and two readings survive: bitter, and beloved. The first Miriam we can name is the sister of Moses and Aaron, called a prophet in the Book of Exodus. She sang after the crossing.

In Polish use the name rarely stays whole. Marysia softens it for a small child. Mania trims it shorter still. The variant Maryia keeps an older eastern spelling, closer to the Hebrew source.

The Polish gloss, ukochana przez Boga, beloved by God, leans on the second reading. That sense grew as Maria attached itself to devotion. The bitter meaning came first in the etymology, and the loving one arrived later and stayed. On a form at the urząd, the full Maria stands where Marysia and Mania cannot.

When Maria celebrates name day

Maria appears 65 times in the Polish name day calendar, 16 of them as a main name, the first on 2 February.

Next name day
12 September
Saturday in 2026
Next one in 2 days
Name days

The days Polish calendars list this name on. By custom you celebrate one of them, usually the first after your birthday.

Also celebrates

Rarer dates. Only the most complete calendars add this name on these days. Most skip them, so hardly anyone celebrates then.

How many people are named Maria

1 in 39 women in Poland is named Maria. 576,120 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #5 among female names.

People with the name Maria 2019 → 2025
576,120 -49,290 since 2019
2020 622,023 -3,387
2021 612,227 -9,796
2022 601,554 -10,673
2023 594,249 -7,305
2024 585,623 -8,626
2025 576,120 -9,503

Maria's popularity over time

2,536 girls were given the name in 2025, ranking #23 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2000. Still the #5 name among living women, even as it slips to #23 among newborns.

hover a bar to explore
2,536 newborns with the name Maria in 2025
national rank #23 that year

Where Maria is most popular

Maria is most popular in Podlaskie, 23% above the national average (977 girls born 2019–2025), followed by Warmian-Masurian (+18%) and Świętokrzyskie (+17%). It is least common in Subcarpathian and Silesian, 22% and 16% below average respectively.

More common than average Less common than average

Maria as a middle name

Maria is a first name for 576,120 women in Poland and a middle name for another 1,481,845, a 28/72 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 1st.

As a first name
576,120
As a middle name
1,481,845
first name 28% middle name 72%
Middle-name ranking women

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Search the register, or step through the ranking one place at a time.

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