What’s in a Name?: Miriam

Miriam (Mary) Mir-yām mr(y) = “beloved” | yām = “sea” The name Miryām, rendered in English as Miriam and Mary, was rare among Jewish women during most of biblical history, and only Aaron and Moses’s sister bears that name in the Hebrew Bible (Exodus 15:20). It became exceedingly popular in the Roman period, and the New Testament introduces several women named Mary, including Jesus’s mother, through whom it became one of the most common names for Christian women. Yet the origins and meaning of the name Miryām remain uncertain. The biblical Hebrew name likely combines the Egyptian verb mrj (to […]