Damaris

About Damaris

Damaris is a Greek name remembered from the New Testament and from the writings of English philosopher Damaris Masham. Its meaning is uncertain, though it is often connected with a Greek word for a young cow or heifer. The name has an ancient setting without the immediate familiarity of many other biblical choices.

Meaning and biblical history

The proposed source is Greek damalis, meaning “heifer” and sometimes used of a young girl. The relationship between that word and Damaris is not certain, so “young girl” is best treated as a possible interpretation rather than a settled translation.

In Acts 17, Damaris appears among the people in Athens who become believers after hearing Paul. The chapter places his preaching in a city of public debate, where he speaks with philosophers and addresses an audience at the Areopagus.

The speech refers to an altar dedicated to an unknown god and moves toward Paul's teaching about God and resurrection. The listeners respond in different ways: some mock him, some want to hear more, and some believe. Damaris is named in this final group, alongside Dionysius the Areopagite.

Her appearance is brief, but she is identified by name rather than left within an unnamed crowd. That single passage is the central reason Damaris has remained part of Christian naming history.

Damaris Masham

Damaris Masham, born Damaris Cudworth in 1658, was an English philosopher and the daughter of Cambridge thinker Ralph Cudworth. She grew up around a substantial library and developed intellectual relationships extending beyond her immediate family.

Her two anonymously published books were A Discourse Concerning the Love of God in 1696 and Occasional Thoughts in Reference to a Vertuous and Christian Life in 1705. They address religious and ethical questions, while her surviving letters show a wider philosophical conversation.

Masham corresponded with John Locke and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. Locke became a guest and later a permanent resident at her home at Oates in Essex after returning to England in 1688. She died in 1708. Her career gives Damaris a connection to the history of women in philosophy as well as to scripture.

Pronunciation and sound

English pronunciations include DAM-uh-ris, duh-MAIR-is, and duh-MAR-is. The first places stress at the beginning; the other two emphasize the middle syllable. All keep the final s audible.

Damaris has three syllables but ends in a consonant rather than the a ending found in many Greek feminine names. The opening-stress pronunciation feels quite different from the two versions that emphasize the middle, even though each preserves the same final syllable.

American popularity

The largest annual girls' total for Damaris in the local United States SSA series was 483 in 2006, when it ranked #603. In 2025, 150 girls received the exact spelling, placing it at #1,437. It has therefore remained in American use while being less frequent than at its early twenty-first-century high point.

How popular is Damaris?

In 2025, Damaris ranked #1,437 among girls in the United States, with 150 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for girls in 1916; its largest annual count was 483 in 2006. Rankings count each spelling separately. They describe national use, so local familiarity can differ. The popularity chart shows whether the name has remained common, returned after a quieter period, or risen recently.