Name of the Week

♫ Marina, Aqua Marina.
You're magic to me, A beautiful mystery.
I’m certain to fall I know, Because you enthral me so.♫ 
A divine epithet, a royal sensation and many a mermaid.

 

Origin:

Marina is the feminine form of the Latin word marinus meaning "of the sea." Many theories make the etymology to something more complex, deriving the masculine name Marinus from the Roman name Marius which could be either from Mars, mas "manly" or even also mare "sea."  It seems strange, however, to complicate the basic correlation between marina the Latin word, and Marina the Latin name, as we know Marina "of the sea" was used as an epithet of Venus by the Romans, thanks to her birth from the sea. In Pompeii, of which she was a protectress, we find her named such. The House of Venus Marina can still be visited today. This simple association continued to permeate through the ages. In Shakespeare's Pericles, Prince of Tyre (1608), for example, the lovely and virtuous, Marina describes herself as "called Marina, for I was born at sea."

Usage:

There have been several early saints with the name Marina. One of the earliest was Saint Mariña of Aguas Santas (199-139) a Portuguese virgin-martyr. St Margaret of Antioch (d.304), one of the most notable saints of Christianity, is known as Saint Marina the Great-Martyr or Hagia Marina (Holy Marina) in the Eastern Orthodix Church. Thanks to the name change, St Margaret was sometimes confused with the 6th century martyr St Marina the Monk and both Margaret and Marina have been conflated with St Pelagia (Pelagia being the Greek equivalent of the Latin Marina). In Britain, most likely thanks to saints named Marina and Marinus, the name saw some usage from the 13th century, though it was very uncommon. A Marina de Beseville is mentioned in the feudal aids of 1302 and Reaney and Wilson note a Marina in 1230 Nottingham. It is possible that the surname Marrin derives from either Marina or Marinus.  Marina continued in rare usage through to the 18th century. Baptisms were most notable in Devon and London, though in some cases it seems to have been confused with Mariona which was also in use. Mariona may have been an elaboration of Marion, or a form of the Welsh Meirion (fem Meiriona), itself most likely from Marinus.  The Surname Atlas - click to enlarge Marina was in steady but uncommon usage in the 19th century.  Data from the 1881 census ranks it as the 958th most common name (both male and female) with 568 instances.  Though Marina was used across the UK, it is most notable in Devon and Cornwall.  Through the 19th and early 20th century, Marina was remarkable steady in use. From 1838 to 1928 in England and Wales, Marina was registered between 5 and 27 times every year.  This all changed in the 1930s as we can see from birth records for Marina in England and Wales: 1929: 4 births 1930: 3 births 1931: 5 births 1932: 7 births 1933: 4 births 1934: 1439 births  (2 in Jan-Mar, 2 in Apr-Jun, 127 in Jul-Sep, 1308 in Oct-Dec) 1935: 1192 births 1936: 286 births The reason for this sudden explosion in popularity was all thanks to the engagement in August 1934, and later marriage in November, of Princess Marina of Greece to Prince George, Duke of Kent.  The media furore over the glamorous and elegant Greek princess was huge. Newspapers went wild from the moment the engagement was announced, discussing everything from the outings the Princess took, to the minute details of her clothing. She even had a colour - Marina green -named specially in her honour. Even before the wedding on the 29th November, numerous babies were given the name:                Aberdeen Journal - 29 Nov 1934               Derby Daily Telegraph - 24 Sept 1934 Leslie Dunkling's data for the number of girls registered with the name Marina in every 10,000 births in England and Wales over the 20th century supports this:  1900 1925  1935 1950  1955  1960  1965  1970  1975  1980  1985  1990              34    2     6    2     6     2          2    2    6 The brief spike in 1965 may have been influenced by the airing in 1964-65 of the TV show Stingray which featured Marina as the lovely mergirl who had her own theme song Aqua Marina which was sung at the end of the show by Gary Miller. Since 1996, Marina has fluctuated in usage in England and Wales. In 1997 Marina ranked #471 with 61 births. It ranked #519 (55 births) in 2000, #701 (41 births) in 2004, #831 (40 births) in 2008 and #801 (41 births) in 2012.  In Scotland, Marina has ranked between 1 (2007) and 6 (2011) times, excepting 2010 when it did not rank.  In 2013, Marina ranked #802 with 48 births in England and Wales. It did not rank at all in Scotland that year.  Internationally, Marina ranked #26 in Spain, #30 in Brazil and #273 in France in 2012.

Famous Bearers:

History: * Saint Marina of Aguas Santas (119-139), virgin and martyr of Balcagia. * Saint Margaret of Antioch (d.304), also known as Saint Marina the Martyr or Agia Marina by the Orthodox Church. * Venerable Marina de Escobar (1554–1633), a Spanish nun, and foundress of a modified branch of the Brigittine Order. * Marina Tsvetaeva (1892–1941), Russian poet and writer. * Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent (1906-1968), Princess of Greece and Denmark and wife of Prince George, Duke of Kent. * Marina Semyonova (1908-2010),  first Soviet Prima-ballerina * Marina Berti (1924–2002), Italian film actress. Contemporary: * Marina Karella (b. 1940), Greek artist. * Marina Sirtis (b. 1955), British-American actress known particularly for staring in Star Trek: The Next Generation.  * Marina Giordana (b. 1955), Italian actress. * Marina Lima (b. 1955), Brazilian singer and songwriter. * Marina Suma (b. 1959), Italian actress. * Marina Abrosimova (b. 1983), Russian singer known as MakSim.  * Marina Diamandis (b. 1985), British singer-songwriter, known as Marina and the Diamonds. Literature and Other Media: * Marina, a character in the play Pericles, Prince of Tyre (1608) by William Shakespeare and George Wilkins. * Marina, a mergirl in BBC Supermarionation TV show Stingray.  * Princess Marina, the seventh and youngest mermaid in the 1975 animated film Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid.

Variants:

Maren, Marna (Danish, Norwegian), Marine (French)

Pronunciation:

ma-REE-nə [key]

Possible  Diminutives:

Mari, Mina, Minnie, Mia, Rina, Marna, Marnie

Sibling Names:

Alexandra     Cassandra     Thalia     Iona     Allegra     Viola  Sebastian     Christian     Jasper     Nicholas      Tristan     Adrian

Name Lists:

Slickly Continental   Resonant Roman   Shakespearean Names   Names from Jane Austen   Non-floral Nature   Butterfly Names

 

If you like Marina you may also like:  Melina, Sabina, Delphine, Calista, Linnea, Anastasia, Selina, Miranda, Zinnia, Alba

 

Thanks to Clarissa for requesting this post.