Miriam (מִרְיָם) is the original Hebrew form of Mary — uncertain etymology, possibly "beloved" or "bitter sea" or from the Egyptian mr ("love"). *The biblical Miriam — older sister of Moses and Aaron and the first woman explicitly called a prophet (nəvi'ah) in the Hebrew Bible (Exodus 15:20). Watched over the infant Moses in the bulrushes; led the women of Israel in the Song of the Sea after crossing the Red Sea — among the oldest passages in the Hebrew Bible. Punished with leprosy for criticizing Moses (Numbers 12); died at Kadesh. Miriam Makeba (1932-2008) — South African singer; "Mama Africa" — first Black African woman to win a Grammy (1966); UN delegate; exiled from apartheid South Africa for 31 years. Miriam Yeung, Miriam Margolyes* — among modern Miriams.
Subject of countless rabbinic commentaries and Marina Goldovskaya's documentary Mama Africa (2011).
In Pythagorean numerology the letters of Miriam reduce to 9, The Giver. This is a traditional interpretive system, not a factual claim about the name.