Martha
given name · Latin script
Meaning: The name Martha is a Latin transliteration of the Greek Μάρθα (Mártha), which itself comes from the Aramaic name מָרְתָא (Mārtā), meaning "the lady" or "the mistress"
Recorded as a female name· opposite-gender records fall within measured source noise
/mɑɹθə/(machine-generated) pronunciation, model-generated
Martha is a given name written in the Latin script, with more bearers in the United States than in any other country. In Costa Rica it is the 16th most common given name.
- COColombia≈1 in 180(inferred from the name graph)
- USUnited States1 in 903
- PLPoland1 in 132as Marta
carrying the name, as counted by its national register where one exists and as Mondonomo estimates it elsewhere (marked ≈ and "est." on hover). Where a country counts another spelling of the name rather than Martha itself, the figure is that spelling’s, and it is named. One hue, darker where it is more common; hover a country for its figure.
- United States (measured from records)
- #154 (measured from records)
- 8 (measured from records)
- Sources
- 569 (measured from records)
- ≈1 in 180 (inferred from the name graph)
368,239 people, 2020
of 15M given names
recorded for this name
Highest-authority source
Colombia, est.
measured from records inferred from the name graph
Spellings & scripts(measured from records)
Locally spelled Marta in AR Argentina, ES Spain, PL Poland and 4 more.
Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records, and ○ marks a model's transliteration; click a spelling to open its page.
Meaning & origin(measured from records)
The name Martha is a Latin transliteration of the Greek Μάρθα (Mártha), which itself comes from the Aramaic name מָרְתָא (Mārtā), meaning "the lady" or "the mistress".
Sources 1
- Biblical Names Compiled Database
Attested across 15 languages in the etymology graph.
Where in the world(measured from records)
Martha counted together with the spellings and other-language forms grouped with it. Where a register counted another spelling, the row names it.
Sorted by bearers: national registers' counts, and Mondonomo's estimates (≈, est.) where no register counts.
| Country | Most common spelling | Sources | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US United States | #123 | 368,239 | 1 in 903 | 368K | Martha | 569 |
| PL Poland | #40 | 289,122as Marta | 1 in 132 | 289K | Marta | 227 |
| CO Colombia | #218 | ≈270,000 est. | ≈1 in 180 | 267 | Marta | 120 |
| AR Argentina | #70 | ≈240,000 est. | ≈1 in 190 | 4K | Marta | 150 |
| ES Spain | #26 | 229,080as Marta | 1 in 218 | 229K | Marta | 289 |
| CZ Czechia | #81 | 77,794as Marta | 1 in 138 | 78K | Marta | 114 |
| SV El Salvador | #44 | ≈45,000 est. | ≈1 in 143 | — | Marta | 51 |
| CR Costa Rica | #16 | 12,353as Marta | 1 in 413 | 12K | Marta | 65 |
368,239 people counted by Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex, 2020. Exact figures are national registers' own counts, while figures marked ≈ and est. are Mondonomo’s estimates, counted from our sources and calibrated against those registers; hover one for how far to trust it in that country. A dash means neither exists.
Registers cited: Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex; RENAPER — Apellidos (person counts, national); INE — Padrón per-token widgets (current living counts, given + apellidos); dane.gov.pl — PESEL given names (first + second name position, 2026-01-20); dane.gov.pl — PESEL living persons (names); MVČR — living population register 2017; the co-datosgov-candidates register; TSE — electoral roll (padrón) names. Figures without a register are Mondonomo estimates; see Methodology.
Country figures for a list of names, at full precision, are available under licence rather than by scraping this table (how that works).
Other recorded senses(measured from records)
Martha is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.
The name Martha has a timeless, classic feel, associated with strength, hospitality, and devotion. A person named Martha is often seen as practical, caring, and a pillar of her community, embodying a faith that is expressed through dedicated action and service to others.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
In Irish, Possibly a feminine of Aramaic mar ‘lord’; used to anglicise More.
as a nameIrish first names
metronymic from the female personal name, which appears in the New Testament as Martha (Aramaic Marta ‘lady’) (see Marta).
as a nameDictionary of American Family Names
In English, A female given name from Aramaic of biblical origin.
as a wordkaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)
In German, from Aramaic mārṯā 'lady, mistress'
as a nameDeutsche Namenkunde: Unsere Familiennamen nach ihrer Entstehung und Bedeutung
Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.
Notable people with this name(measured from records)
- Martha Washingtonb. 1731USFirst Lady of the United States from 1789 to 1797
- Marie Triepcke Krøyer Alfvénb. 1867DKnot in their usual nameDanish painter (1867-1940)
- Martha Grahamb. 1894USAmerican dancer and choreographer (1894–1991)
- Martha Gellhornb. 1908USjournalist from the United States (1908–1998)
- Martha Scottb. 1912USAmerican actress (1912–2003)
- Martha Hyerb. 1924USactress (1924-2014)
- Martha Stewartb. 1941USAmerican businesswoman, writer, TV personality (born 1941)
- Martha Argerichb. 1941ARArgentine pianist (1941-)
- Martha Plimptonb. 1970USAmerican actress
- Martha Higaredab. 1983MXMexican actress, writer, producer (b. 1983)
The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).
How to address them(machine-generated)
A formal English salutation is built on the surname, so it needs a full name — on its own, a first name only supports the informal form.
Evidence(measured from records)
Attested in 124 sources across 67 countries.
| Country | Register | Year | Count | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US United States | Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex | 2020 | 368K | #133 |
| CR Costa Rica | TSE — electoral roll (padrón) names | — | 2.8K | #272 |
| ES Spain | INE — Padrón per-token widgets (current living counts, given + apellidos) | — | 2.3K | #1,586 |
| ES Spain | INE — Nombres más frecuentes (Padrón Municipal) | — | 2K | #865 |
| PL Poland | dane.gov.pl — PESEL living persons (names) | — | 542 | #631 |
| PL Poland | dane.gov.pl — PESEL given names (first + second name position, 2026-01-20) | 2026 | 542 | #631 |
| US United States | Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex | 2020 | 521 | #133 |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 2025 | 393 | — |
| CO Colombia | Colombia — Función Pública SIGEP II public-servant name corpus (datos.gov.co) | — | 267 | #13 |
| CZ Czechia | MVČR — living population register 2017 | — | 76 | #1,557 |
Reference works 6
- Dictionary of American Family Names
- Nederlandse FamilienamenBank (Dutch surname bank; ex-Meertens Instituut, now CBG)2007
- Nişanyan Adlar (Turkish given-name national-registry frequency)
- Wikipedia given-name tokens
- Wikidata name items (native-script + romanized given/family names)
- Ethiopian name tokens (GitHub lehagere/ethiopian-names, 40/60 condominium list)
These works list the name; their figures are licensed and are not reproduced here.
Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.
Frequently asked questions
- What does the name Martha mean, and where does it come from?
- The name Martha is a Latin transliteration of the Greek Μάρθα (Mártha), which itself comes from the Aramaic name מָרְתָא (Mārtā), meaning "the lady" or "the mistress". Recorded by Biblical Names Compiled Database.
- Is Martha a male or female name?
- Martha is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.
- What are other forms of the name Martha?
- In the etymology graph, Marta, Patsy and Patty are forms of the same name in other languages.
- In which country does Martha have the most bearers?
- In the United States, the national register counted about 368 thousand people named Martha, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled martha.
- How common is the name Martha?
- In the United States, the national register counted 368,239 people named Martha in 2020, about 1 in 903 residents.
- How common is Martha compared with other names?
- In the United States, Martha is the 123rd most common given name of 2,815,431 given names recorded there.
- How do you pronounce Martha?
- A machine transcription gives /mɑɹθə/ (IPA) for English.
What do you want to know about Martha?
Nobody replies to these one by one, but what readers ask decides what these pages answer next.
Query this name via API
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/marthaThe payload this page is built from: spellings and scripts, countries and languages, related names, and the registers that attest the form. It takes a free API key (1,000 requests a day), which returns what this page shows everyone; the full country table, every register citation and the year-by-year series come with a licensed key, as does bulk access.
About this data
measured from records inferred from the name graph machine-generated
These figures come from the data snapshot of and will change as it is rebuilt.
Statistics are aggregated from the Mondonomo name corpus; related names and etymology are inferred from the name graph; pronunciation and any machine-marked transliterations are model-generated. Read how the numbers are made, including their known failure modes, and where the data comes from.
Reference works we consult — surname dictionaries, official name registers, Wikidata and Wiktionary — are named directly, beside the claims they support. The per-country source counts also include datasets of person records: we publish how many there are and their authority tier, but not their names.
Cite this page Mondonomo, “Martha” — the 123rd most common given name in United States. Data snapshot 2026-10-10.