Mary

I have a passion for the name of Mary, For once it was a magic sound to me: And still it half calls up the realm of fairy Where I beheld what never was to be.

Mary, which is as common as a white violet, and like that has something indestructibly sweet and simple, and fit for all wear, high or low, suits the cottage or the palace, the garden or the field, the pretty and the ugly, the old and the young;

For it was Mary; Mary / Plain as any name can be / But with propriety, society / Will say "Marie". / But it was Mary; Mary / Long before the fashions came / And there's something there that sounds so square / It's a grand old name.

They had called their children Ann, Mary, and John as a reaction against their own fancy tricksy names. Both mothers thought these names sadly unimaginative and each blamed the child of the other for the lack of vision and style.

For the last decade at least, the trend seems to be that more untraditional names are being chosen over the Bobs, the Toms, the Sues and the Marys.

Life on Martha’s Vineyard has been mostly ideal for 11-year-old Mary Elizabeth Lambert, the protagonist of Ann Clare LeZotte’s historical novel SHOW ME A SIGN (Scholastic, 288 pp., $18.99; ages 8 to 12).

Deobra Redden, 31, was caught on camera in January jumping over a desk and lunging at Judge Mary Kay Holthus, who was sentencing him in another case.

Now the birth of Jeſus Chriſt was on this wiſe: When as his mother Mary was eſpouſed to Joſeph (before they came together) ſhee was found with childe of the holy Ghoſt.

And Jeſus anſwered, and ſaide vnto her, Martha, Martha, thou art carefull, and troubled about many things: But one thing is needefull, and Mary hath choſen that good part, which ſhall not bee taken away from her.

Note also that male homosexuals will call most anyone Bessie or Mary, e.g. ‘Oh, Bessie, you're a camp!’

In America in the 1950s,... Mary was often used in the vocative to address any fellow homosexual (‘Well, Mary...’).

You that be of the court, & eſpecially ye ſworn chaplains beware of a leſſon that a great man taught me at my firſt coming to the court he told me for a good will, he thoughte it wel. He ſayd vnto me. You muſt beware how ſo euer ye do that ye cõtrary not the king, let him haue his ſaiyngs, folow him, go with him. Mary out vpon this counſel, ſhal I ſay, as he ſayes?

And I pray thee (ſayde Pas,) gentle Nico, tell mee what miſchaunce yt was that broughte thee to taſte ſo fyne a Meate? Mary goodman Blockhead (ſayde Nico) bycauſe hee ſpeakes ageanſt Jeloſy, the filthy Treytor to true affection, and yet diſguyſing yt ſelf in the rayment of Love.

Falst[aff] Fie, this is hot weather (gentlemen) haue you prouided me heere halfe a dozen ſufficient men? / Shal[low] Mary haue we ſir, will you ſit? / Falst. Let me ſee them I beſeech you. / Shall. Wheres the rowle? wheres the rowle? wheres the rowle? let me ſee, let me ſee, ſo, ſo, ſo, ſo, ſo (ſo, ſo) yea mary ſir, Rafe Mouldy, let them appeere as I call, let them do ſo, let thẽ do ſo, let me ſee, where is Mouldy?