Marika
A pet form of Maria, Hebrew at root. In Poland it stays uncommon and keeps fading: fewer girls get it now than during its high point back in the 2000s.
Marika Pronunciation
Marika is pronounced mah-REE-kah (/maˈrika/).
What Marika means
Where Marika comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Marika began life as a diminutive, a familiar shape given to the older name Maria. Maria itself travels back through Latin to the Hebrew Miriam, so the Hebrew root sits underneath even this shorter, warmer form.
The Polish gloss for Marika is gwiazda morza, star of the sea. That reading came later. Medieval scholars linked Maria to the Latin phrase stella maris, and the image of a star above the water attached itself to every form of the name, Marika included. The Hebrew origin and the sea-star meaning belong to different centuries.
On an official form at the urząd, Marika fills the given-name line without fuss. It is short. The name stands on its own while still pointing back to Maria behind it.
So Marika holds two things at once: a Hebrew root by way of Miriam, and the later Polish reading of gwiazda morza.
When Marika celebrates name day
Marika appears 2 times in the Polish name day calendar, 1 of them as a main name, the first on 16 July.
The days Polish calendars list this name on. By custom you celebrate one of them, usually the first after your birthday.
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 Marika
1 in 1654 women in Poland is named Marika. 13,630 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #320 among female names.
Marika's popularity over time
91 girls were given the name in 2025, ranking #258 among newborns. It has been falling steadily since 2000.
Where Marika is most popular
Marika is most popular in Świętokrzyskie, 73% above the national average (64 girls born 2019–2025), followed by Łódź (+36%) and Pomeranian (+28%). It is least common in Podlaskie and Greater Poland, 34% and 23% below average respectively.
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Świętokrzyskie64 girls born+73%
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Łódź115 girls born+36%
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Pomeranian126 girls born+28%
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West Pomeranian65 girls born+15%
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Subcarpathian90 girls born+12%
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Warmian-Masurian50 girls born+4%
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Lubusz34 girls born+3%
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Lesser Poland155 girls born+2%
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Lublin67 girls born−2%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian71 girls born−3%
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Lower Silesian100 girls born−5%
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Masovian211 girls born−11%
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Opole27 girls born−12%
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Silesian128 girls born−16%
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Greater Poland111 girls born−23%
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Podlaskie29 girls born−34%
Marika as a middle name
Marika is a first name for 13,630 women in Poland and a middle name for another 2,543, an 84/16 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 178th, between Olimpia (2,548) and Ludmiła (2,526).
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#176 Romualda2,609
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#177 Olimpia2,548
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#178 Marika2,543
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#179 Ludmiła2,526
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#180 Elizabeth2,460