Martha
Just over 500 women in Poland carry it, few enough that most people here have never met one. The English form of a Hebrew name meaning "lady", or mistress of the house, and it's given less each year now.
Martha Pronunciation
What Martha means
Where Martha comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Martha reaches back to a Hebrew and Aramaic word, marta, the feminine of a root meaning lord or master. So the name says lady, or mistress of the house, in Polish pani domu, gospodyni.
The first Martha most readers meet is Martha of Bethany. In the Gospel of Luke she opens her home to Jesus and takes on the serving while her sister Mary sits and listens. The short meaning and that scene line up neatly: a woman running her own household. Later tradition made her a patron of cooks and homemakers.
English speakers adopted the name early and kept it. The variant Marta moves more easily across Polish, Spanish, and Scandinavian registers, and it is the form a Polish child is likelier to carry. On a class register Marta lands between Marcin and Mateusz.
The root is old and plain. Whether spelled Martha or Marta, the name still means the lady of the house.
How many people are named Martha
1 in 44465 women in Poland is named Martha. 507 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #1311 among female names.
Martha's popularity over time
Fewer than 2 girls were given the name in 2025. It has been falling steadily since 2000.
Martha as a middle name
Martha is a first name for 507 women in Poland and a middle name for another 255, a 67/33 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 425th, between Karola (255) and Margarita (252).
-
#423 Edeltrauda255
-
#424 Karola255
-
#425 Martha255
-
#426 Margarita252
-
#427 Karin251