MARIA (ma-ɾi-a)

According to a report by the U.S. Social Security Administration, James and Mary are the most popular given names for male and female babies born during the 1920-2019 period, with James with 4,735,694 occurrences and Mary with 3,265,105 occurrences. And it continues to be a very popular name in the United Kingdom, too.

So, it probably should not come to a surprise to anyone that María, Spanish for Mary, is the most popular name for females in Spain, and other Spanish-speaking countries, like Costa Rica, where the names “María”, “Mariángel”, “María Fernanda”, “Mariana”, “María José”, “María Paula” and “Maria Celeste” have been -and continue to be- many parents’ favorites, the latter six of these names especially favored during the past few decades.

Now, at this point you may be wondering if this is an article about popular female names in Costa Rica. Well, not really. It is about a different usage of the name “María”, and how it has become synonymous to public transportation.

You have probably seen them all around the map, more than you have police officers, or even bikes. Any clues?… Going once. Going twice… Bingo! Red taxis!!! And red taxis use meters, like so many other places, right? But ours are special. Our taxi meters have names of their own. Costa Rican taxi meters are called “Marias”.

Who came up with this idea of naming meters “Marias” is part of Costa Ricans’ ingenuity, and something that could come as a shock if you expect to see a person (Maria) riding along, and not a meter only.