Martha Washington, first First Lady of the U.S., 1731–1802
Martha is one of those names which hasn’t very many variants, but there are more than just a handful. This name is English, Scandinavian, Greek, German, and Dutch. The alternate form Märtha is is Swedish.
The name means “the lady, the mistress,” from Aramaic marta‘ (feminine form of mar, master). Despite being the name of a prominent Biblical woman, it didn’t become widespread in England till the Protestant Reformation.
Martha used to be hugely popular in the U.S., at #16 when records began being kept in 1880. Its highest rank was #14 in 1882, and it remained in the Top 20 till 1888, the Top 30 till 1945 (except for 1905 at #32, 1907 at #31, and 1908 at #32), the Top 50 till 1954, and the Top 100 till 1965.
The name gradually sank down the charts, frequently losing 20+ ranks each year. In 2019, it was #795.
Martha is currently much more popular in England and Wales. It’s been on the Top 100 since 2006, and was #95 in 2019.
Princess Marthe Bibesco (née Marta Lucia Lahovary), Romanian–French writer and socialite, 1886–1973
Other forms of the name include:
1. Marta is Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, German, Latvian, modern Russian, Icelandic, Slovenian, Romanian, Georgian, Macedonian, Ukrainian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Belarusian, Catalan, Polish, Slovak, Czech, Swedish, and Croatian. This name is #33 in Spain, #62 in Sweden, #52 in Portugal, #43 in Galicia, #31 in Italy, #81 in Catalonia, and #61 in Poland.
Variants include Márta (Hungarian), Mártá (Sami), and Märta (Swedish).
2. Morta is Lithuanian.
3. Maata is Maori.
4. Martta is Finnish.
5. Marthese is Maltese.
6. Marte is Norwegian.
7. Marthe is French and Norwegian. The French pronunciation has one syllable, and the Norwegian has two. This is the name of the wonderful plastic surgeon who removed my second-degree burn scars.
8. Moireach is Scottish.
9. Marfa is traditional Russian and Ukrainian. As I’ve said many times before, I’m not a fan of names where F replaces TH in the middle! It doesn’t bug me as the first letter (e.g., Fyodor), but it sounds ugly in most other instances.
10. Maleka is Hawaiian.
Finnish painter Martta Wendelin, 1893–1986
11. Mareta is Gilbertese, a Micronesian language.
12. Markva is Mordvin, a Uralic language spoken in Russia.
13. Marpa is Mansi and Khanty, Uralic languages spoken in Russia.
14. Marthey is Manx.
15. Marthi is a rare Greek form.
16. Mathiri is Malayalam, a language spoken in India.
17. Zujenia is Caló–Romani, spoken in Spain, Portugal, Southern France, and Brazil. This form makes more sense when you know the Caló word zhulyi means “lady, woman,” and thus has the same meaning as Martha.
Onomastics Outside the Box 