If your name is Maryam, or Mariam, or Mary, here's who you're named after.
Maryam is the only woman the Quran calls by her name, and a whole surah carries it. The angels spoke to her directly:
"O Maryam, Allah has chosen you and purified you, and chosen you above the women of the worlds." (Quran 3:42)
Then an angel came to her with news of a son. "How can I have a boy," she said, "when no man has touched me?" He said: "Your Lord says, 'It is easy for Me.'" (Quran 19:19–21)
When her labour pains came, she was alone, and they drove her to the trunk of a palm tree. "I wish I had died before this," she said, "and been forgotten." And a voice called to her from below her:
"Don't grieve. Your Lord has placed a stream beneath you. Shake the trunk of the palm tree toward you, and fresh, ripe dates will fall for you. So eat, and drink, and be at peace." (Quran 19:23–26)
The Prophet ﷺ said: "The best of women in her time was Maryam, daughter of Imran. And the best of women in hers was Khadijah." (Sahih al-Bukhari 3432)
