Mara

Most people don’t realize but Mara is actually a Biblical name from the Hebrew “mara” meaning “bitter”. It is the name by which Naomi calls herself after returning to Judah following the death of her husband and two sons while living in Moab. Naomi’s daughter-in-law, Ruth, accompanied her to Bethlehem and when the townspeople saw it was Naomi approaching they called out to their old neighbor: “Is this Naomi?” Naomi replies: “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.” (Ruth 1:20). Naomi is the Hebrew word for “pleasant” and Mara is the Hebrew word for “bitter”. Naomi asks her fellow Israelites: “Why call me Naomi when the Lord has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?” We think it’s fair to say Naomi is Mara (i.e., bitter). Just a wee bit. Don’t worry, though, things pick up for Naomi later on in the Book of Ruth. She nurses Ruth’s baby Obed who would later become the grandfather of Israel’s great King David, the same ancestral line belonging to the Messiah. Still, Naomi went through some tough times after losing her husband and children; we’ll just call those her “Mara” years. It’s unclear when Mara became popularized as a female given name, but we’re guessing it was originally an act of humility. In other words, Mara might have been the “bitter” name Naomi gave to herself when she felt like God had forsaken her when in fact He never left her side. Today Mara is quite popular in Spain and the Netherlands. It is also a high ranking name in Croatia where Mara is considered a diminutive of Marija (the Croatian form of Maria/Mary). Some folks also take Mara as a short form for names like Tamara, Samara or Amara. Lastly, we might also mention that Mara is the Irish word for “sea”, the Swedish word for “nightmare”, the name of a Hindu goddess of death and a Latvian goddess of earth.