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.^[1]

Spelling variants include French Myriam, German Mirjam, Mirijam; hypocoristic forms include Mira, Miri and Mimi (commonly given in Israel).^[2]

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".^[3]

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.

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".^[3]

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.^[3]

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".^[4]

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.^[5]

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.

The letter y in the transliteration Miryam represents the palatal glide /j/. The metathesized spelling Myriam has also gained some currency,^{[year needed]} 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.

• Miriam, a main character in Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Marble Faun (1860)
• Miriam Rooth in Henry James's novel The Tragic Muse (1890)
• Miriam Leveirs in D.H. Lawrence's novel Sons and Lovers (1913)
• Miriam, the title character (or characters) of Truman Capote's eponymous short story, his first widely acclaimed fictional work from 1949
• Miriam Blaylock in the 1983 film The Hunger
• Miriam Godwinson, a faction leader in the video game Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (1999)
• Miriam Haywood, a.k.a. Atsuko Senoo, in the anime/manga series Ojamajo Doremi
• Miriam in The Thieves of Ostia (2001)
• Miriam Pataki in the cartoon Hey Arnold! (2004)
• Miriam, the fictional protagonist of Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night and a playable character in its companion game Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon
• Miriam, a.k.a. Queen Marion, in the Italian animated series Winx Club (2004)
• Myriam Scuttlebutt in the video game Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney − Dual Destinies (2013)^{[importance?]}
• Miriam “Midge” Maisel, the titular character in the TV series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017)
• Miriam Mendelsohn, a character in Disney/Pixar's 2022 animated film Turning Red
• Miramir, a minor Star Wars character who is the mother of Rey
• Miriam Jacobs is a one-off character in Philip Pullman's The Secret Commonwealth
• Miriam is the school nurse in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

• Maryam (name)