Maryam
Meaning of Maryam
Maryam is the Arabic cognate of Miriam and Mary, rooted in ancient Semitic languages and most often glossed as “beloved,” “wished-for child,” or, in a more poetical turn, “sea of serenity.” In Islamic tradition, Maryam is the honored mother of Isa (Jesus), giving the name a venerable, interfaith resonance that comfortably straddles mosque and church alike. U.S. data show a steady, if unspectacular, climb: after hovering in the 700s through the late 20th century, Maryam broke into the mid-400s by 2021 and now sits just inside the national Top 350. The trajectory suggests a quiet confidence rather than a meteoric fad—parents seem drawn less by celebrity splash than by a desire for a cross-cultural classic that feels familiar yet retains its own melodic cadence, mah-RYAHM. All told, Maryam offers a graceful compromise between the evergreen Mary and the brisk modernisms crowding today’s nurseries, proving that understatement can still move the popularity needle.
Pronunciation
Arabic
- Pronunced as mah-RYAHM (/ma.ri.jam/)
U.S. Popularity Chart
States Popularity Chart
Notable People Named Maryam
| Maryam Mirzakhani was the first woman and Iranian to win the Fields Medal for her influential work in mathematics, particularly in geometry and dynamics. |
| Maryam Monsef, an Afghan Canadian politician, served as the Liberal MP for Peterborough—Kawartha from 2015 to 2021. |
| Maryam Rajavi is an Iranian dissident politician who leads the MEK, an organization advocating the overthrow of Iran's government, serves as president-elect of the NCRI, and is married to its co-leader Massoud Rajavi. |
| Maryam Yusuf Jamal made history as the first Bahraini to win an Olympic gold medal in the 1,500m at the 2012 London Games. |
| Maryam d'Abo is a British actress best known for her role as Kara Milovy in the 1987 James Bond film The Living Daylights. |
| Maryam al-Khawaja - Maryam Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja is a Bahraini-Danish human rights activist who currently serves as Special Advisor on Advocacy with the Gulf Center for Human Rights. |
| Maryam Jameelah was an American-Pakistani author who converted from Judaism to Islam, emigrated to Pakistan, and wrote over thirty books advocating orthodox Islam. |
| Maryam Khatoonpour Molkara was an Iranian transgender rights activist who secured a fatwa permitting sex reassignment surgery and became the first person in Iran to legally undergo the procedure. |
| Maryam Matar - Maryam Mohamed Fatma Matar is an Emirati geneticist and the first woman director-general in Dubai, known for founding the UAE Genetic Diseases Association. |
| Iranian human rights activist Maryam Shafipour was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2014 but released in 2015 following condemnation from human rights organizations. |
| Maryam Bayramalibeyova - Maryam Teymur qizi Bayramalibeyova was an Azerbaijani educator and feminist who dedicated her life to social activism. |
| Maryam Modjaz is a German-American astrophysicist and professor at NYU, where she researches the death of massive stars and serves as Director of Equity and Inclusion. |
| Maryam Pougetoux is a French activist and student union leader serving as Vice-President of Unef, raised in the Paris suburbs by parents who converted to Islam from Correze. |
| Maryam Akbari Monfared, a supporter of the People's Mojahedin of Iran, lost three brothers and a sister in the 1988 mass executions and is a mother of three. |
| Maryam Sullivan - Maryam "Umm Juwayriyah" Sullivan is an American multi-talented artist who authored the pioneering Islamic Urban fiction novel "The Size of a Mustard Seed." |
