Miriam was the sister of Moses and Aaron — the quick-witted girl who watched over the baby in the bulrushes and arranged for his own mother to nurse him. Decades later, after the Red Sea, she took a timbrel in her hand and led the women of Israel in the first recorded song of praise: sing ye to the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously.
Called a prophetess, she was one of three leaders God named for the exodus. Miriam is the Hebrew original behind the name Mary.
Miriam is a rich, melodic classic — the mother-name of Mary, warmly shortened to Miri.
Variants & nicknames
Miri, Mirriam, Mary, Maryam
Miriam in the Bible
And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances.