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Shem Tov · Hebrew names

Girl's nameOrigin: biblicalIn Israel: steady

MiriamIn Hebrew: מרים · meaning, pronunciation and popularity in Israel

With vowel points: מִרְיָםRomanization: miryám

Miriam (Hebrew: מרים) is a girl's name of biblical origin. 63,446 people born in Israel between 1949 and 2024 have it today, according to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). In 2024 it was given to 1,296 girls and ranked #3. Its peak year was 2024, with 1,296 babies.

People in Israel
63,446
born 1949–2024
Babies in 2024
1,296
rank #3
Peak year
2024
1,296 babies
USA, 2025
1,262
rank #246

Writing and saying Miriam

In Hebrew letters the name is מרים, read right to left. Miriam is the Latin spelling recorded by our review; families choose their own spelling in passports, so you may also meet other forms. Wiktionary romanizes it as "miryám" (the accent marks the stressed syllable).

Meaning and origin

  • a female given name, Miriam
  • Miriam
  • a female given name, Miriam
Uncertain. Proposals include derivation from the root מ־ר־ר (m-r-r, “to be bitter”), or from the root מ־ר־י (m-r-y, “to mutiny, rebellion, disobedience”), or from Egyptian mry (“beloved”).

Quoted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), unchanged.

Miriam by year: Israel and abroad

How many girls out of every 10,000 born each year have the name. For Israel it counts the people born that year who carry the name today (the CBS counts residents by year of birth, not birth registrations).

Miriam: rate per 10,000, 1950–2025

per 10,000 babies of the same sex

Miriam in English-speaking countries

Miriam in each official list: latest year, count, rank and peak
Country / regionYearBabiesRankPeak
United States20251,262#2461924 (1,834)
United Kingdom2025206#2502022 (212)
England and Wales2025197#2372022 (204)
Scotland20256#4741982 (17)
Northern Ireland20253#3972024 (7)
Ireland202515#2761964 (117)
Alberta202511#4061995 (12)
Quebec202516#3271990 (31)

Counts for girls. The Hebrew page for Miriam has every year and the other spellings.

Related Israeli names

Spelling variants and names that look or sound close in Hebrew.

Questions about Miriam

How do you write Miriam in Hebrew?

Miriam is written מרים in Hebrew (with vowel points: מִרְיָם). Hebrew is read right to left. A dictionary romanization is "miryám".

How many people in Israel are named Miriam?

63,446 people born between 1949 and 2024 carry the name מרים: 63,430 women and 16 men. The count comes from the CBS table of current first names by year of birth; years with fewer than 5 people are not published.

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

In Israel it is almost always a girl's name: 100.0% of the people named מרים are women.

What does the name Miriam mean?

English Wiktionary describes it as: "a female given name, Miriam" Etymology: Uncertain. Proposals include derivation from the root מ־ר־ר (m-r-r, “to be bitter”), or from the root מ־ר־י (m-r-y, “to mutiny, rebellion, disobedience”), or from Egyptian mry (“beloved”).

Is Miriam used outside Israel?

The name Miriam appears in the official baby name lists of English-speaking countries. In the United States 1,262 girls were given it in 2025 (#246), per the Social Security Administration. In the UK 206 in 2025 (ONS, NRS and NISRA combined).

Sources

Israel: Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), current first names of people born 1949–2024 by sex, population group and year of birth, processed 2026-09-27. CBS publications.

Abroad

Counts are copied as published. We only merged accented spellings (Zoë = Zoe) and computed ranks and rates. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – British Columbia and the Open Government Licence – Alberta.