MARIA

'Maria'
Gender:	Female
Origin:	Hebrew and Roman
Meaning:	''"Beloved/love"''

'Maria' is a female given name in many diverse cultures, including African, Italian, Greek, Russian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Romanian, German, Polish, English, Spanish, and Bulgarian.
It became popular with the spread of Christianity as a latinized form of the Hebrew name of Jesus' mother Mary (Miriam in Hebrew). The meaning of the name is uncertain, but it may originally be an Egyptian name, probably derived from ''mry'' "beloved" or ''mr'' "love" ^[1] ("eminent lady" or "beloved lady"), although it was used in Europe even before the establishment of Christianity as a female form of the Roman name Marius.^[2] Historically the name was also sometimes used as a male middle name. This was the case in many Central European countries where it signified patronage of the Virgin Mary.
As a first name, Maria ranked seventh out of 4,275 for females of all ages in the 1990 U.S. Census.^[3] Because of its enduring popularity, the name is used extensively in society and media throughout the world.
Maria has also been translated from Latin to mean "star of the sea".

Contents

Famous people named Maria

Religious

Royalty

Educationists

Actors

Singers/bands

Athletes

Music

Models

Television hosts

As male middle name

As female middle name

Media

Songs

Novels

Television

Culture

Languages

Geography

Food

Astronomy

Other

Trivia

References

Famous people named Maria

Religious

★ Maria, Mother of Jesus (see Mary (mother of Jesus) and Virgin Mary (disambiguation))

★ Maria Magdalena, disciple of Jesus (see Mary Magdalene)

★ Maria Salomé, disciple of Jesus (see Salome (disciple))

★ Maria Betânia, sister of Lazarus (see Mary of Bethany)

★ Maria al-Qibtiyya, wife or concubine of the Islamic prophet Muhammad

Royalty

★ Infanta Maria Francisca of Portugal ^[4]

★ Maria I of Portugal, Queen of Portugal

★ Maria II of Portugal, Queen of Portugal

★ Maria of Alania, Georgian princess and Byzantine Queen Consort

★ Maria Amalia of Austria, Duchess of Parma

★ Maria Fyodorovna, Dowager Empress of Russia and Princess of Denmark

★ Maria of Georgia, Queen Consort of Georgia

★ Maria Nikolayevna Romanova, Grand Duchess of Russia

★ Maria Leopoldina of Austria, Empress of Brazil and Archduchess of Austria

★ Maria, Queen of Romania (see Queen Marie)

★ Maria I Stuart, Queen of Scotland (see Mary I of Scotland)

★ Maria I Tudor, Queen of England and Ireland (see Mary I of England)

★ Maria Tudor, Queen Consort of France (see Mary Tudor (queen consort of France))

★ Maria Augusta, Queen Consort of England and Empress of India (see Mary of Teck)

★ Maria Antonia, Queen Consort of France (see Marie Antoinette)

★ Maria Teresa, Empress of Austria (see Empress Maria Theresa)

★ Maria Carolina, Empress of Austria (see Marie Caroline)

★ Maria Komnena, Empress of Byzantine Empire

Educationists

★ Maria Montessori

Actors

★ Maria Bello

★ Roxann Maria Caballero, American actress and director

★ Maria Ozawa, Japanese AV actress

★ Holly Marie Combs, American actress

★ Maria Conchita Alonso, Cuban born Venezuelan actress

Singers/bands

★ Maria (Bulgarian singer), Bulgarian singer

★ Maria (singer), a Danish R&B singer

★ Maria Callas, opera soprano

★ Maria Mena, Norwegian pop singer

★ Maria Muldaur, American roots-folk singer.

★ Maria Lawson, a contestant on The X Factor UK in 2005

★ Maria (Japanese Band), Japanese band

Athletes

★ Maria Kanellis, professional wrestler working for World Wrestling Entertainment

★ Maria Kirilenko, Russian tennis player

★ Maria Mutola

★ Maria Sharapova, Russian tennis player, Wimbledon Champion

★ Maria Elena Camerin, Italian tennis player

Music

★ Maria Joao Pires, Portuguese pianist

Models

★ Maria, French supermodel

★ Maria Fowler, British Glamour Model, appearing on Page 3 and all UK Major Publications

Television hosts

★ Maria Menounos, ''Access Hollywood'' presenter

★ Maria Bartiromo, ''Closing Bell'' presenter on CNBC

As male middle name

★ Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, better known as Pope Pius IX

★ José María Aznar, Spanish politician, former Spanish prime minister

★ Klaus Maria Brandauer, Austrian actor

★ Christoph Maria Herbst, German actor

★ Erich Maria Remarque, German author

★ Jan Maria Rokita, Polish politician

★ Charles Edward Louis John Casimir Silvester Maria Stuart, leader of the Jacobite rebellion

As female middle name

★ Catharine Maria Sedgwick, American novelist

★ Lucretia Maria Davidson, American poet

Media

Songs

★ ''M (song)'', Ayumi Hamasaki

★ ''María (song)'', Ricky Martin

★ ''Maria'', Rage Against the Machine

★ ''Maria (US5 song)'', US5

★ ''Maria (1956 song)'', West Side Story

★ ''Maria'', Gackt

★ ''Maria'', The Sound of Music

★ ''Maria (Blondie song)'', Blondie

★ ''Maria (Green Day song)'', Green Day

★ ''Maria'', Café Tacuba

★ ''Maria'', Men at Work

★ ''Maria'', The Jacksons

★ ''Maria'', Vico C

★ ''MARIA'', hitomi

★ ''Maria (I Like it Loud)'', Scooter

★ ''Maria Maria'', Santana and The Product G&B

★ ''Maria no Tsumeato'' Janne da Arc

★ ''Maria, Shut Up and Kiss Me'', Willie Nelson

★ ''My Maria'', Brooks and Dunn

★ ''My Maria'', B.W. Stevenson

★ ''Take a Letter Maria'', R.B. Greaves

★ ''They Call the Wind Maria'', Paint Your Wagon, pronounced the colloquial way, "mah-RYE-ah"

★ ''Yassou Maria'', sarbel

Novels

★ ''Maria'', Mary Wollstonecraft

★ María (novel), Jorge Isaacs

Television

★ ''How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?'', British talent show

Culture

Languages

★ Maria language (India), Dravidian language spoken in India

★ Maria language (Papua New Guinea), language spoken in Papua New Guinea

Geography

Food

★ Maria-mole, dessert popular in Brazil that is similar to a marshmallow

★ Maria (cookie), a simple cookie originally from Spain

★ Golden Maria Cocktail- Mango Juice, Lime, Mint leaves and soda with white rum

Astronomy

★ 170 Maria, asteroid

★ Lunar maria, large, dark, basaltic plains on Earth's Moon

Other

★ Tropical Storm Maria - a name on the Atlantic hurricane and Western Pacific typhoon lists

★ Maria (reachability analyzer), a reachability analyzer for concurrent systems

★ Maria Gaetana Agnesi, Italian mathematician

★ Maria Traydor, character in tri-Ace's role playing video game ''

★ Maria (Silent Hill), a character from the video game ''Silent Hill 2'' and its mini-prequel "Born from a Wish."

★ Maria Robotnik, a character from the ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' series of video games.

★ Maria DeLuca, A character from Roswell (TV series)

★ Maria (Japanese Band), A rock band from Japan.

★ Maria, nickname given to the first Portuguese female paratrooper nurses, which participated mainly in the Portuguese Colonial War.[1]

★ Maria Lucillia Barros

Trivia

★ In Mexico, it is a tradition to name the firstborn daughter Maria.

★ In Hong Kong, Maria is a nickname with slightly negative meaning of Filipino maid

References

1. Behind the Name article on Mary
2. http://hera.ugr.es/tesisugr/15434928.pdf
3. Think Baby Names
4. Daugther of Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza, Head of the Royal House of Portugal and pretender to the Portuguese throne.