Name
Mara
Meaning
Mara is a feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning “bitter”.
In the Book of Ruth, the widowed Naomi asks to be called Mara, bitter, making the name a biblical expression of grief. By coincidence the same syllables name the Buddhist demon of death and desire and a nightmare spirit of Slavic folklore, which lands gentle-sounding Mara on every list of death-touched names.
A quiet but persistent presence in the US girls' top 1000.
Popularity in the United States
Girls
Ranked #587 in 2025 · peak #538 in 1990
Data: US Social Security Administration, top-1000 ranks.
At a glance
- Origin
- Hebrew
- Gender
- Feminine
- Pronounced
- /MAH-rah/
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Questions
Mara is a feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning “bitter”. In the Book of Ruth, the widowed Naomi asks to be called Mara, bitter, making the name a biblical expression of grief.
Mara is traditionally a feminine (girl) name. It is a quiet but persistent presence in the US girls' top 1000.
The name Mara comes from Hebrew. In the Book of Ruth, the widowed Naomi asks to be called Mara, bitter, making the name a biblical expression of grief. By coincidence the same syllables name the Buddhist demon of death and desire and a nightmare spirit of Slavic folklore, which lands gentle-sounding Mara on every list of death-touched names.
Mara is pronounced MAH-rah.
More names that mean death
Names that share this meaning.
- Anubis MasculineEgyptian“the jackal-headed god of embalming”
- Azrael MasculineHebrew“God is my help; the angel of death”
- Hades MasculineGreek“the unseen one”
- Hel FeminineOld Norse“hidden; ruler of the Norse underworld”
- Kali FeminineSanskrit“the black one”
- Morana FeminineSlavic“goddess of winter and death”