Mary

A depiction of Mary, mother of Jesus, praying in quiet devotion (The Virgin in Prayer by Sassoferrato, c. 1650)

From Middle English Marie, from Old French Marie, from Latin Maria, from Ancient Greek Μαρία (María), Μαριάμ (Mariám), from Aramaic מַרְיָם‎ (maryām) or Hebrew מִרְיָם‎ (miryām), of uncertain meaning. Most likely originally an Egyptian name, perhaps derived in part from mry "beloved" or my "love". Doublet of Miriam, Marie, and Maria.

• Marie (Early New English)

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛə.ɹi/
  • Rhymes: -ɛəɹi
• (General American) enPR: mârʹē
  • (Mary–marry–merry distinction) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛɚ.i/

    • Audio (US)

      (file)

  • (Mary–marry–merry merger) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛɹ.i/

    • Audio (US)

      (file)

    • Rhymes: -ɛɹi
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈmeː.ɹi/
• Homophones: marry, Merry, merry (all only in accents with the Mary–marry–merry merger)

Mary (plural Marys or Maries)

1. A female given name from Aramaic or Hebrew.
   • 1821, Lord Byron, Don Juan, Canto the Fifth: IV:

     I have a passion for the name of Mary,
     For once it was a magic sound to me:
     And still it half calls up the realm of fairy
     Where I beheld what never was to be.

   • 1830, Mary Russell Mitford, Our Village: Cottage Names:

     Mary, which is as common as a white violet, and like that has something indestructibly sweet and simple, and fit for all wear, high or low, suits the cottage or the palace, the garden or the field, the pretty and the ugly, the old and the young;

   • 1905 George M.Cohan, Forty-Five Minutes from Broadway, Mary is a Grand Old Name ( a song)

     For it was Mary; Mary / Plain as any name can be / But with propriety, society / Will say "Marie". / But it was Mary; Mary / Long before the fashions came / And there's something there that sounds so square / It's a grand old name.

   • 1996, Maeve Binchy, This Year It Will Be Different: A Christmas Treasury, Hachette UK, published 2008, →ISBN:

     They had called their children Ann, Mary, and John as a reaction against their own fancy tricksy names. Both mothers thought these names sadly unimaginative and each blamed the child of the other for the lack of vision and style.

2. (religion) The mother of Jesus, believed in Christianity to have been a virgin at his birth and sometimes believed to have been born herself without sin, to have ascended to Heaven without death, and to act as a sympathetic intermediary for believers.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 1:18, column 2:

     Now the birth of Jeſus Chriſt was on this wiſe: When as his mother Mary was eſpouſed to Joſeph (before they came together) ſhee was found with childe of the holy Ghoſt.

3. (biblical) Any of several other women in the New Testament, notably:
   1. Mary Magdalene, a disciple of Jesus.
   2. Mary of Bethany, the sister of Lazarus and Martha.
      • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 10:41–42, column 1:

        And Jeſus anſwered, and ſaide vnto her, Martha, Martha, thou art carefull, and troubled about many things: But one thing is needefull, and Mary hath choſen that good part, which ſhall not bee taken away from her.

4. (Islam) The 19th sura (chapter) of the Qur'an, recounting the events leading up to the birth of Jesus.

   Synonym: Maryam

5. (chiefly US, gay slang) A term of address for a male homosexual. [1925]

   Synonyms: nancy, nan; see also Thesaurus:male homosexual

   • 1941, G. Legman, Sex Variants, volume II, page 1171:

     Note also that male homosexuals will call most anyone Bessie or Mary, e.g. ‘Oh, Bessie, you're a camp!’

   • 1985, W. Dynes, Homolexis, page 150:

     In America in the 1950s,... Mary was often used in the vocative to address any fellow homosexual (‘Well, Mary...’).

6. (Ireland, dated) A male middle name, given in honour of the Virgin Mary.

In English, the given name was considered too sacred to use before the end of the 12th century. It was very popular from the 17th to the 20th century.

• (mother of Jesus): advocatrix, Blessed Virgin, Blessed Virgin Mary, Christotokos, Coredemptrix, Deipara, Holy Mary, Holy Mother, Holy Mother of God, Madonna, Maria, Mater Dei, Miriam, Morning Star, Mother of God, Mother of Mercy, Mother of Sorrows, New Eve, Our Lady, Our Lady of Dolors, Our Lady of Sorrows, Our Lady of the Seven Dolors, Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows, Panagia, Queen of Heaven, Santa Maria, Saint Mary, Sorrowful Mother, Star of the Sea, Theotokos, the Virgin, Virgin Mary

• Amina

Borrowed from Turkmen Mary. (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Mary

1. The capital city of the Mary Region, Turkmenistan.
2. A region in southeast Turkmenistan.

• ARMY, Army, Mayr, Myra, Yarm, army, yarm

From English Mary, from Old French Marie, from Latin Maria, from Ancient Greek Μαρία (María), Μαριάμ (Mariám), from Aramaic מַרְיָם‎ (maryām) or Hebrew מִרְיָם‎ (miryām), of uncertain origin.

Mary

1. a female given name from Hebrew

From English Mary. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

• IPA^(key): /mɛː⁵⁵ ɹiː²¹/

Mary

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese, colloquial, euphemistic, humorous) sex doll; love doll (Classifier: 隻／只)
   • 2009 July 31, “周秀娜推出人型攬枕尹蓁希擔心男人有歪念”, in Wen Wei Po‎, archived from the original on 13 February 2023:

     李曼筠則覺得人形攬枕沒問題，日本很早已有人形攬枕出售，她也不排除會推出人形攬枕。問到她不怕攬枕被人用作其他「用途」嗎？她說：「我諗唔會做D猥瑣嘢刦，問番D男人先知。」白韻琴就指人形攬枕如同吹氣公仔Mary，她笑說：「咁Mary醜樣D。」

     (please add an English translation of this quote)

   • 2020 November 26, “是枝裕和電影《援膠女郎》變真人真事　哈薩克健身教練娶吹氣公仔”, in 《香港01》‎:

     想不到現實生活中，亦有位男子愛上私家「Mary」，二人結成正式夫婦，男方仲話「太太」有正當職業，平時會講粗口，果真戲如人生。

     (please add an English translation of this quote)

From English Mary. A variant of the traditional Danish Marie.

Mary

1. a female given name

• Danskernes Navne, based on CPR data: 20 092 females with the given name Mary have been registered in Denmark between about 1890 (=the population alive in 1967) and January 2005, with the frequency peak in the 1900s decade. Accessed on 10 August 2011.

From English Mary. A variant of the traditional Norwegian Maria or Marie.

Mary

1. a female given name

• Kristoffer Kruken - Ola Stemshaug: Norsk personnamnleksikon, Det Norske Samlaget, Oslo 1995, →ISBN
• Statistisk sentralbyrå, Namnestatistikk: 4 879 females with the given name Mary living in Norway on January 1st 2011, with the frequency peak around 1920 . Accessed on 10 August 2011.

From English Mary as a variant of the traditional Swedish Maria. First recorded as a Swedish given name in 1808.

Mary c (genitive Marys)

1. a female given name
   • 2004, Majgull Axelsson, Den jag aldrig var, Prisma, →ISBN, page 17:

     Hon visste att hon hade vuxit upp i ett vitt hus, att hennes mor hade döpt henne till Mary och att hennes far hade kallat henne Marie och att hon långt upp i tonåren hade lekt att hon levde två liv, att hon hade ett andra jag som vaknade när hon somnade och somnade nät hon vaknade.

     (please add an English translation of this quote)

• Roland Otterbjörk: Svenska förnamn, Almqvist & Wiksell 1996, →ISBN
• Statistiska centralbyrån and Sture Allén, Staffan Wåhlin, Förnamnsboken, Norstedts 1995, →ISBN: 10 519 females with the given name Mary living in Sweden on December 31st, 2010, with the frequency peak in the 1920s. Accessed on 10 August 2011.

• myra

Borrowed from English Mary.

• Hyphenation: Ma‧ry
• IPA^(key): /ˈmeɾi/, [ˈmɛ.ɾɪ]

Mary (Baybayin spelling ᜋᜒᜇᜒ)

1. a female given name from English

Mary (Cyrillic Мары)

1. Mary (a city in Turkmenistan)
2. Mary (a region of Turkmenistan; capital: Mary)