Entry № 6479 · West African origin

Mariama Mariama — Meaning, Origin & Baby Name Popularity

/ mah-ree-AH-mah /
Gender
Girl
Origin
West African
Meaning
"Beloved, the gift of God"
Syllables
3
First recorded
Medieval (West African)

A name that means "beloved, the gift of god".

Mariama is the West African (Senegalese, Gambian, Sierra Leonean) form of Maryam (Mary) — beloved in Islamic tradition as the mother of Jesus. Used widely across the Sahel and West Africa.

Mariama Bâ (1929-1981), the Senegalese author of So Long a Letter, is the most famous bearer.

Beloved. The West African form of Mary.

The name in its native script.

Mariama
Transliteration
Mariama
Pronunciation
/ ˌmær.iˈɑː.mə /
Root
Grammatical form

Where Mariama stands.

Mariama does not currently appear in the US Social Security Administration's top 1,000 girls' names, so we don't publish a US rank or birth count for it. That says nothing about the name's standing elsewhere in the world — only that it sits outside the ranked US data we rely on.

Mariamas before her.

Real people
Mariama Bâ
Senegalese author.
1929 – 1981
In fiction
Mariama
Common in West African fiction.

Names connected to Mariama.

The number behind Mariama.

2

The Peacemaker

In Pythagorean numerology the letters of Mariama reduce to 2, The Peacemaker. This is a traditional interpretive system, not a factual claim about the name.