Naomi means pleasant, but when famine and loss had taken her husband and both sons, she asked to be called Mara — bitter — for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. She returned to Bethlehem empty, only her devoted daughter-in-law Ruth beside her.
But her story turns: through Ruth and Boaz she gained a grandson, Obed, and the women of the town rejoiced with her. Naomi's arc from emptiness to fullness is one of Scripture's gentlest pictures of God's quiet restoration.
Naomi is a warm, melodic classic — increasingly popular and lovely in any language.
Variants & nicknames
Noemi, Naomie, Noa
Naomi in the Bible
And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.