Marah
A feminine Arabic name meaning "bitter" or "sadness".
Name Census estimates that about 2,282 living Americans carry the first name Marah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Marah today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marah births was 2004 (117 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marah. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
2.3K
~ 1 in 150,199 Americans
Peak year
2004
117 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,926
Tracked since 1964
Popularity
Marah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marah from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 770 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Marah by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Marah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Marahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 16 states and territories. Ohio, Pennsylvania, Georgia recorded the most babies named Marah, while West Virginia, Kansas, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 39 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Marah
The name Marah has its origins in the Hebrew language. It is believed to have derived from the Biblical Hebrew word "מרה" (marah), which means "bitter" or "bitterness." The name first appears in the Book of Exodus in the Old Testament, where it refers to the waters of Marah, which were described as bitter and undrinkable.
In the Bible, Marah was a location in the desert that the Israelites reached after leaving Egypt. According to the story, the people complained about the bitter waters, and Moses was instructed by God to throw a piece of wood into the water, which made it sweet and drinkable.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Marah was Marah Serapion, a Christian female martyr who lived in the 3rd century AD. She was executed during the Persecution of Christians under the Roman Emperor Decius.
Another notable figure named Marah was Marah al-Malouf, a 17th-century Arab poet and writer from Lebanon. She was renowned for her poetic works, which explored themes of love, nature, and spirituality.
In the 19th century, Marah Ellis Ryan was an American author and poet. She was born in 1860 and wrote several novels and collections of poetry, including "Fleurs de Lys" and "Poems of Life and Nature."
Marah Rusli was an Indonesian writer and journalist who lived from 1889 to 1968. She is considered one of the pioneers of modern Indonesian literature and is best known for her novels "Sitti Nurbaya" and "Mengindang Kemala."
Marah Wolff was a German-American actress who lived from 1865 to 1938. She had a successful career on the stage and also appeared in several silent films during the early 20th century.
These are just a few examples of individuals throughout history who bore the name Marah. While the name has its roots in the Hebrew language and Biblical references, it has been adopted and used across various cultures and time periods.
People
Marah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marah as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Marah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,282 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marah going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 150,199 US residents.
Is Marah a common name?
We classify Marah as "Rare". It ranks above 94.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,347 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marah most popular?
The single biggest year for Marah was 2004, when 117 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marah is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Marah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Marah in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.