Marah
Marah was given to 17 girls in 2025, #6,727 among girls’ names; 2,365 Americans have been recorded with it since 1964 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,320 Americans named Marah and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (98% of everyone recorded); the median is 25 years old and half are between 18 and 34.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Marah by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Marah mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Marah is “a female given name from Arabic, from Arabic, which means merriness, cheerfulness.”
Also “a female given name from Hebrew, from Hebrew which means bitterness. Biblical variant: Mara.”
Borrowed from Arabic مَرَح (maraḥ).
/ˈmɑːɹə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Marah?
#6,727 among girls’ names, 2025
Marah fell from #4,273 in 2015 to #6,727 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 19.0 to 10.6 per million.
117 babies in 2004, the peak
Marah peaked in 2004, when 117 girls were given it, #1,661 among girls’ names. The 17 births of 2025 are 15% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 17 | #6,727 | 10.6 |
| 2024 | 39 | #3,870 | 24.1 |
| 2023 | 32 | #4,417 | 19.9 |
| 2022 | 23 | #5,571 | 14.0 |
| 2021 | 26 | #5,036 | 15.8 |
| 2020 | 21 | #5,775 | 13.0 |
| 2019 | 25 | #5,251 | 14.9 |
| 2018 | 27 | #4,952 | 15.9 |
| 2017 | 25 | #5,277 | 14.5 |
| 2016 | 38 | #3,974 | 21.4 |
Every recorded year (59)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 34 | #4,273 | 19.0 |
| 2014 | 37 | #4,074 | 20.7 |
| 2013 | 22 | #5,944 | 12.5 |
| 2012 | 28 | #5,061 | 15.9 |
| 2011 | 45 | #3,534 | 25.6 |
| 2010 | 47 | #3,452 | 26.4 |
| 2009 | 37 | #4,158 | 20.1 |
| 2008 | 64 | #2,822 | 33.8 |
| 2007 | 65 | #2,812 | 33.8 |
| 2006 | 68 | #2,658 | 35.8 |
| 2005 | 70 | #2,490 | 37.9 |
| 2004 | 117 | #1,661 | 63.7 |
| 2003 | 95 | #1,920 | 52.0 |
| 2002 | 87 | #2,010 | 48.4 |
| 2001 | 90 | #1,930 | 50.0 |
| 2000 | 77 | #2,115 | 42.4 |
| 1999 | 56 | #2,551 | 31.6 |
| 1998 | 82 | #1,876 | 46.4 |
| 1997 | 86 | #1,760 | 49.4 |
| 1996 | 63 | #2,167 | 35.9 |
| 1995 | 67 | #2,036 | 38.1 |
| 1994 | 49 | #2,566 | 27.4 |
| 1993 | 55 | #2,335 | 30.4 |
| 1992 | 72 | #1,933 | 39.0 |
| 1991 | 110 | #1,444 | 58.7 |
| 1990 | 107 | #1,459 | 56.4 |
| 1989 | 78 | #1,742 | 42.3 |
| 1988 | 55 | #2,113 | 30.9 |
| 1987 | 28 | #3,295 | 16.1 |
| 1986 | 14 | #5,349 | 8.2 |
| 1985 | 12 | #5,897 | 7.0 |
| 1984 | 9 | #7,160 | 5.3 |
| 1983 | 11 | #6,050 | 6.6 |
| 1982 | 12 | #5,757 | 7.1 |
| 1981 | 24 | #3,499 | 14.4 |
| 1980 | 15 | #4,879 | 9.0 |
| 1979 | 11 | #5,988 | 6.9 |
| 1978 | 13 | #5,089 | 8.5 |
| 1977 | 13 | #5,107 | 8.5 |
| 1976 | 7 | #7,786 | 4.8 |
| 1975 | 9 | #6,246 | 6.2 |
| 1974 | 7 | #7,355 | 4.8 |
| 1973 | 8 | #6,419 | 5.5 |
| 1972 | 7 | #6,977 | 4.6 |
| 1971 | 5 | #9,076 | 3.0 |
| 1970 | 8 | #6,126 | 4.6 |
| 1969 | 5 | #8,165 | 3.0 |
| 1967 | 6 | #6,496 | 3.6 |
| 1964 | 5 | #7,386 | 2.6 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Marah a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Marah has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 59 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Marah: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Marah, and how old are they?
2,320 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 98% of the 2,365 Americans ever recorded as Marah. The median Marah alive today is 25 years old; half are between 18 and 34.
The 2020 Census counted 2,360 people named Marah (2,349 women and girls, 11 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,182 born in the U.S. The Census count is 8% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 4 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 107 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 747 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,100 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 364 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Marah born?
The states with the most babies named Marah are Ohio, Pennsylvania and Georgia, with 42% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ohio | 117 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Pennsylvania | 90 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Georgia | 54 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| New York | 54 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Florida | 52 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Michigan | 50 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Texas | 44 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Indiana | 34 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| California | 30 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Wisconsin | 25 | not ranked | 0.6× |
Where Marah is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Marah is most over-represented in Ohio: since 1964 it was given 1.2 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Marah with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 5,464,542 babies since 1880, Marah is the eighth most given (<1% of them). In 2025 it was given to 17 of their 7,019 babies (<1%), again the eighth most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Marah
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Marah and names like it
- Compare Marah and MaryBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sMarah peaked in 2004.
- Ohio’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Marah since 1910.
- Arabic namesWiktionary’s origin for Marah: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2004The year the most babies were named Marah.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Marah alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with MMost given first.