The name of this lovely little village () comes not from Arabic, as many people may be inclined to think, but from Aramaic, the Semitic dialect which was spoken all over the Near East at the time of our Lord Jesus Christ who used it himself for preaching the Good News. So Maarra in Aramaic means cave. In Arabic which is closely related to Aramaic, the word for cave is maghara. () This name may seem surprising, but it is amply justified by the many caves which are constantly discovered as people dig foundations for new buildings.

Since there are more than one locality in Syria called Maarra, each one is defined by the nearest large city in its vicinity. Thus, we came to have "Maarrat Halab" (Aleppo’s Maarra) also known as "Maarrat An-Naamaan" and Maarrat al-Shaam i.e. the Maarra of Damascus. That was the original name of our village of Maarra. But because the main administrative departments ( the Police Station, the Post Office, the Civil Registry, the Telephone Department, the Water and Electricity Utilities etc...) are located in the neighboring town of Sednaya, Maarra has become popularly known as "Maarrat Sednaya". This nickname has been so largely used that it eventually became the official name of the village.