Meaning of the nameMari

Mari and Mary are feminine names linked to Maria: Mary is the English form, and Mari is a short form of Maria in languages such as Spanish and Finnish.

Meaning

The meaning of Mari is not known for certain. No reliable source documents it, so we give none; below are the origin of the spelling and the official figures.

People (2022): 20,566
Rank in Brazil: #1,044
Median age: 50 years
2010 Census: 26,113; people

Mari in the 2022 Census

People with the first name Mari, by the decade they were born. In the chart, 70 = the 1970s and 20+ = 2020 to 2022. The largest group was born in the 1960s (5,303 people).

20,212 women 354 men

Source: IBGE, 2022 Demographic Census, Nomes no Brasil. The census counts the first name of people alive in 2022; small counts are not published, and the first group covers everyone born before 1940. How to read these data.

Where the name Mari is most common

States with the highest share of people named Mari in the population, in the 2022 Census.

All states

State	People	% of population
Rio Grande do Sul	4,546	0.042%
São Paulo	3,974	0.009%
Paraná	2,141	0.019%
Santa Catarina	1,982	0.026%
Bahia	1,093	0.008%
Rio de Janeiro	962	0.006%
Minas Gerais	951	0.005%
Pará	515	0.006%
Ceará	486	0.006%
Mato Grosso do Sul	447	0.016%
Pernambuco	446	0.005%
Mato Grosso	404	0.011%
Goiás	378	0.005%
Maranhão	349	0.005%
Amazonas	302	0.008%
Espírito Santo	203	0.005%
Distrito Federal	198	0.007%
Sergipe	173	0.008%
Alagoas	166	0.005%
Rio Grande do Norte	146	0.004%
Paraíba	145	0.004%
Rondônia	138	0.009%
Piauí	126	0.004%
Roraima	86	0.014%
Tocantins	79	0.005%
Acre	66	0.008%
Amapá	64	0.009%

States with fewer than 15 people with the name are not shown: IBGE does not publish those counts.

About the name Mari

Mary is the English form of Maria, which comes from Latin and New Testament Greek and, ultimately, from Hebrew Miryam, the name of the sister of Moses in the Old Testament; Behind the Name and Wiktionary say that the meaning of Miryam is uncertain. Wiktionary records Mari as a short form of Maria in several languages, such as Spanish, where it is a colloquial diminutive of María, and Finnish. Because the meaning of the root is uncertain, so is that of the two spellings. In the 2022 Census, IBGE recorded 20,937 people named Mary and 20,566 named Mari. Both spellings are almost always female; proportionally, Mari is most common in Rio Grande do Sul, and Mary in Roraima.

A short form, without the ending -a of Maria, as Spanish and Finnish use it.

Other spellings of Mari

Spelling	People (2022)
Mary	20,937
Mari	20,566

Sources

Behind the Name: Mary · behindthename.com · origin
Wiktionary: Mary · en.wiktionary.org · origin
Wiktionary: Mari · en.wiktionary.org · origin

Questions about the name Mari

What does the name Mari mean?

The meaning of Mari is not known for certain: no reliable source documents it. So we give no meaning; the page shows the origin of the spelling and the official figures.

How many people are named Mari in Brazil?

IBGE's 2022 Census recorded 20,566 people with the first name Mari, which ranks it number 1,044 among the country's names. The largest group was born in the 1960s.

Is Mari a boy's or a girl's name?

Mari is a female name: in the 2022 Census, 20,212 women and 354 men had this name.

What is the origin of the name Mari?

Mari is a name of Hebrew origin. The sources are listed at the end of the page.

In which Brazilian state is Mari most common?

Proportionally, in Rio Grande do Sul: 0.042% of the state's population is named Mari (4,546 people), according to the 2022 Census.

What are the other spellings of Mari?

Mary. IBGE counts each spelling separately.

More names of Hebrew origin

See all

Spotted a mistake? Report a correction for Mari with a source. See the methodology.