Is Mariah in the Bible? No, It Is an English Form of Maria

No one named Mariah appears in the Bible. Mariah is an English variant of Maria, the Greek and Latin form of Mary, so its roots go back through the New Testament Marys to Miriam, the sister of Moses. The singer Mariah Carey made the name popular in the early 1990s.

Is Mariah in the Bible?

No. The spelling Mariah does not occur in the Hebrew or Greek of the Bible or in any translation, so it has no meaning in the Bible of its own. The Bible name behind it is Mary, which the Greek New Testament writes as Maria or Mariam. It belongs to several women, among them the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene and Mary of Bethany. In the Old Testament the same name, Miryam in Hebrew, belongs to Miriam, who led the women of Israel in song after the crossing of the Red Sea (Exodus 15:20–21).

Moriah sounds almost the same but is a separate name, and Behind the Name does not connect the two. Moriah is the land where God told Abraham to offer Isaac (Genesis 22:2) and the mountain in Jerusalem where Solomon built the temple (2 Chronicles 3:1).

What does Mariah mean?

Mariah means what Maria and Mary mean, and no one knows for certain what that is. The theories include “sea of bitterness,” “rebelliousness” and “wished-for child,” but Behind the Name judges Miryam most likely Egyptian in origin, perhaps from mry, “beloved,” or mr, “love.”

Mariah is usually pronounced “ma-RYE-a,” the traditional English way of saying the Latin Maria, rather than “ma-REE-a.” That pronunciation is also behind the meaning “wind” sometimes given for Mariah. It comes from “They Call the Wind Maria,” a song from the 1951 Broadway musical Paint Your Wagon, in which a storm wind is named Maria and the name is sung “ma-RYE-a.” Mariah Carey’s name is taken from that song. “Wind” is an association from the song, not a meaning of the name.

When did Mariah become popular?

Mariah was already in use in the nineteenth century: in 1880 it ranked 342nd among girls’ names in the United States. It was rare for most of the twentieth century, and in 1989 it ranked 561st. Mariah Carey’s first album came out in 1990, and by 1991 the name had climbed to 69th. It reached its highest rank, 62nd, in 1998, and has fallen since, to 447th in 2025.

Related reading

• Is Maria in the Bible? Yes, It Is the Greek and Latin Form of Mary
• Is Marie a Biblical Name? Yes, in the Way That Mary Is
• Is Your Name in the Bible? A Directory of 231 Names