Miriam (Hebrew: מִרְיָם, Modern: Mīryam, Tiberian: Mīryām) is a feminine given name recorded in Biblical Hebrew in the Book of Exodus as the name of the sister of Moses, the prophetess Miriam.
Spelling variants include French Myriam, German Mirjam, Mirijam; hypocoristic forms include Mira, Miri and Mimi (commonly given in Israel).
The name's etymology is unclear. Since many Levite names are of Egyptian origin, the name could come from the Egyptian mr "love", as in the Egyptian names mry.t-jmn (Merit-Amun) "beloved of Amun" and mry.t-rꜥ (Merytre) "beloved of Ra".
An older Grecian pronunciation of this name, Maryām (Μαριάμ), is found in the Greek Old Testament (3rd century BCE) and in the New Testament manuscripts as the name of several women, including Mary, mother of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Variants of this name include Greek and Latin Maria, whence French Marie and English Mary.
"Miriam" is a common female name in countries that speak English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German and Dutch as well as among Ashkenazi Jews. It is also fairly common in Scandinavian countries, Italy, Romania, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia and Croatia.
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Variant Maryam
Mary, mother of the Jesus of the New Testament, bore a Judeo-Aramaic variant of this name, Maryām (מרים). In the New Testament of the Bible, written in Greek, her name is transliterated Mariam (Μαριάμ) or Maria. Several other women in the New Testament, including St. Mary Magdalene, are called by the same name.
In antiquity, it was variously etymologized as "rebellion", "bitter sea", "strong waters", "exalted one", "ruling one", "wished for child", or "beautiful".
St. Jerome (writing c. 390), following Eusebius of Caesarea, translates the name as "drop of the sea" (stilla maris in Latin), from Hebrew מר mar "drop" (cf. Isaias 40:15) and ים yam "sea".
This translation was subsequently rendered stella maris ("star of the sea") due to scribal error or as a result of 3rd century vowel shifts, from which comes the Virgin Mary's title Star of the Sea.
Alternatively, the name can be interpreted "star of the sea" if taken as a contracted form of the Hebrew מאור ma'or "star" (lit. "luminary") plus ים yam "sea", yet this "strikes as a very free interpretation".
Rashi, an 11th-century Jewish commentator on the Bible, wrote that the name was given to the sister of Moses because of the Egyptians' harsh treatment of Jews in Egypt. Rashi wrote that the Israelites lived in Egypt for two hundred ten years, including eighty-six years of cruel enslavement that began at the time Moses' elder sister was born. Therefore, the girl was called Miriam, because the Egyptians made life bitter (מַר, mar) for her people.
Because of Mary's great religious significance, variants of her name are often given to girl children in both the Western and Arab worlds. In the Quran, Mary's name assumed the Arabic form Maryam (مريم), which has also passed into other languages. The Greek variant Maria passed into Latin and from thence into many modern European languages.
Biblical and apocryphal figures
Miriam, the sister of Moses
Woman with seven sons, Jewish martyr described in 2 Maccabees 7, named in Lamentations Rabbah as Miriam bat Tanhum
Mariam (Mary), the mother of Yeshua (Jesus)
Mariam (Mary) of Magdala
Mariam, wife of Clopas
Mariam, sister of Jesus (that’s probably her name)
People named Miriam
Mary the Jewess, also known as Miriam the Prophetess, an early alchemist believed to have lived some time between the first and third centuries AD
Miriam, daughter of Rashi
Miriam, Princess of Turnovo (born 1963), Spanish jewellery designer
Miriam Andrés (born 1976), Spanish politician
Miriam Barnes (born 1983), American hurdler and sprinter
Miriam Ben-Porat (1918–2012), Israeli judge and state comptroller
Miriam Blanchard, Dominican politician
Miriam Esther Brailey (1900–1976), American physician
Miriam Brouwer (born 1991), Canadian cyclist
Miriam Butterworth (1918–2019), American educator, politician, and activist
Miriam Cani (born 1985), Albanian singer
Miriam Caracciolo di Melito (1888–1966), American socialite and Italian countess
E. Miriam Coyrière (fl. 1880), American businesswoman
Miriam Daly (1928–1980), Irish civil rights activist and republican leader
Miriam Davoudvandi, German music journalist and radio personality
Miriam Dean, New Zealand Queen's Counsel
People named Myriam
The letter y in the transliteration Miryam represents the palatal glide /j/.
The metathesized spelling Myriam has also gained some currency, especially in France, alongside Miriam and Miryam.
The name of Israeli or Lebanese people called "Miriam" may be transliterated Miryam or Myriam depending on whether the context of the transliteration is French or English.
Myriam Abel or Myriam Morea (born 1981), French singer of Algerian descent
Myriam Baverel (born 1981), French martial artist
Myriam Bédard (born 1969), retired Canadian athlete
Myriam Bru (born 1930), French actress
Myriam Birger (born 1951), French pianist
Myriam Boileau (born 1977), Canadian diver
Myriam Berthé (born 1967), Senegalese tennis player
Myriam Casanova (born 1985), Swiss tennis player
Myriam Charpentier, British molecular biologist
Myriam Montemayor Cruz (born 1981), Mexican pop star known as "Myriam"
Myriam Fares (born 1983), Lebanese singer
Myriam Fox-Jerusalmi (born 1961), French canoeist
Myriam Glez (born 1980), French swimmer