The term marionette was adopted in 1645 from Middle French marionnette, which literally means “little little Mary”. It is derived from the name Mariole and the diminutive suffix –ette (the l was changed to an n due to influence from the name Marion), and Mariole is itself a diminutive of Mary. It appears that during the Middle Ages in France, it was common to perform string puppet shows based on biblical events, with one of the most popular puppets being the Virgin Mary, hence the name. Mary, which is also the origin of Marion along with several other names (including Maria, Molly, Polly), has a disputed etymology but is often said to come from an Aramaic word meaning “rebellion”. According to Google Ngrams, the usage of the name has remained consistent in recent centuries, but it accounted for a much larger percentage of overall baby names in the early-to-mid twentieth century.
