Mariska is the Hungarian diminutive of Maria — from the Hebrew Miryam ("beloved, star of the sea"). Mariska Hargitay (born 1964) — *American actress; has played Detective/Captain Olivia Benson on NBC's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit since 1999 — making her, by 2024, the longest-tenured female lead in a US primetime live-action drama in the medium's history (25+ seasons and 550+ episodes). Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series (2006); Golden Globe (2005). Daughter of actress Jayne Mansfield (died 1967 in a car accident when Mariska was 3) and Mickey Hargitay (Mr. Universe 1955). Founded the Joyful Heart Foundation in 2004 supporting survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse — the organization has trained 5,000+ first responders and ended the rape-kit backlog in 13 US states. Time 100 Most Influential People (2018)*.
Subject of countless American television-history retrospectives.
Mariska 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.
In Pythagorean numerology the letters of Mariska reduce to 9, The Giver. This is a traditional interpretive system, not a factual claim about the name.