Mara (name)
Mara can be either a surname or a (usually female) first name. As a surname, it may be:
- Irish: a shortened form of O’Mara;
- Hungarian: from a pet form of the personal names Márkus (Hungarian form of Marcus or Mark) or Márton (Hungarian form of Martin), or from a short form of the old ecclesiastical name Marcel;
- Czech (Mára): from a pet form of the personal name Marek or Martin.
Mara as a female first name is pronounced MAHR-ah most of the time, but can be pronounced as rhyming with Sarah in Jewish-American and Southern United States culture. It is of Hebrew origin, and the meaning of Mara is "bitter", which carries the implication "strength". Biblical: Naomi, mother-in-law of Ruth, claimed the name Mara as an expression of grief after the deaths of her husband and sons. It also means "Lady" in Aramaic, because Mar means "Lord", and is a title of bishops in the Syriac Christian church.[1] It is also the name of a bitter lake in the Bible, and a title of the Kabbalistic sephira Binah. Mara means joy in Arabic and can be a unisex name. (Ar:مرح)
May also be used as a Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Greek or Eastern European variant of Mary, Marianna, Maria, Marzanna and as a short form of Tamara. It is a variant of Maura, an Anglicization of the Irish name Máire, the Irish name of Mary, or the Scottish name Moira. It can also be a feminine version of Mauro, meaning a dark-skinned person. In Hindu, and Southeast Asian Buddhist cultures, it is etymologically related to the Sanskrit terms Mala (rosary), Mallika (jasmine) or Mayura (peacock) and is a unisex name or a surname, etymologically unrelated to anything demonic in Sino-Tibetan and modern Indic languages because the letters R and L are sometimes conflated (cf. in Japanese). It is a popular name in Latin America and the United States, for it has been in the top 1000 in the United States since 1950.[2][3]
People with the surname
- Adele Mara (born 1923), American actress
- Alehana Mara, New Zealand rugby league footballer
- Gary Mara, Australian rugby league footballer; son of Bob
- John Mara (born 1954), American New York Giants executive
- John Andrew Mara (1840–1920), Canadian politician, rancher and merchant
- Kamisese Mara (1920-2004), Fijian politician
- Kate Mara (born 1983), American actress
- Paul Mara (born 1979), American ice hockey player
- Peter Mara (born 1947), Canadian ice hockey player
- P. J. Mara (1942–2016), Irish public affairs consultant
- Rooney Mara (born 1985), American actress
- Tim Mara (1887–1959), American New York Giants executive
- Wellington Mara (1916–2005), American New York Giants executive
People with the given name
- Mara Abbott, American cyclist
- Mara Bar-Serapion, 1st-century Syriac writer
- Mara Bergman, American author
- Mara Bizzotto, Italian politician
- Mara Branković, Medieval Serbian royal
- Mara Brock Akil, American television producer
- Mara Brunetti, Italian swimmer
- Mara Buneva, Bulgarian revolutionary
- Mara Carfagna (born 1975), Italian politician
- Mara Carlyle, English singer-songwriter
- Mara Corday, American model
- Mara Croatto, Puerto Rican actress
- Mara Darmousli, Greek fashion model
- Mara Hvistendahl, American Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for Seed
- Mara Liasson (born 1955), American political correspondent
- Mara Lopez (born 1991) Filipina surfer
- Mara Navarria, Italian fencer
- Mara Rosolen (born 1965), Italian shot putter
- Mara Santangelo (born 1981), Italian tennis player
- Mara Sapon-Shevin, American professor of inclusive education
- Mara Schiavocampo, MSNBC news anchor
- Mara Schnittka (born 1995), known professionally as Julia Montes, Filipino actress of German descent
- Mara Švel-Gamiršek, Croatian writer
- Mara Torres (born 1974), Spanish journalist
- Mara Wilson (born 1987), American actress
Fictional characters
- Marller ("Mara"), a demon in the manga and anime series Oh My Goddess!
- Mara Jade in the Star Wars Expanded Universe
- Mara David in the Filipino soap opera Mara Clara
- Mara Aramov, the antagonist of the Syphon Filter series
- Mara Jaffray in House of Anubis
Nicknames
- Nickname of Martti Ahtisaari, a career diplomat and former President of Finland
- Nickname for Maria in Bulgarian, Croatian, Hungarian and Serbian
- Nickname for Dagmar in Scandinavian languages and Czech
- Nickname for Martin or Martina in Hungarian
- Nickname for Tamara
- Nickname for Meredith when pronounced like Meh-ra
- Nickname for Maranatha in Evangelical Christian culture
- Nickname for Maria, Marianna, et al. in Russian and other Slavic languages
- Nickname for such names as Marcel, Markus or Martin
- Naomi (Bible), self-named Mara, meaning "bitterness", after she suffered the deaths of her husband and her two sons
References
- ↑ "Philology, 'Mara,' And The 'Jesus Discovery' Book And Documentary". Asorblog.org. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
- ↑ "Popular Baby Names". Socialsecurity.gov. 2015-02-12. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
- ↑ "Mara Name Meaning & Mara Family History at". Ancestry.com. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
See also
- Mara (disambiguation)
- Maura (disambiguation)
- Máire
- Marah (disambiguation)
- Moira (given name)
- Maria (disambiguation)