Marilu
Marilu was given to 16 girls in 2025, #7,020 among girls’ names; 2,279 Americans have been recorded with it since 1919 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,960 Americans named Marilu and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (86% of everyone recorded); the median is 36 years old and half are between 24 and 52.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Marilu by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Marilu?
#7,020 among girls’ names, 2025
Marilu rose from #8,277 in 2015 to #7,020 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 7.8 to 10.0 per million.
55 babies in 1991, the peak
Marilu peaked in 1991, when 55 girls were given it, #2,330 among girls’ names. The 16 births of 2025 are 29% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 16 | #7,020 | 10.0 |
| 2024 | 15 | #7,457 | 9.3 |
| 2023 | 17 | #6,827 | 10.6 |
| 2022 | 11 | #9,424 | 6.7 |
| 2021 | 18 | #6,578 | 11.0 |
| 2020 | 11 | #9,315 | 6.8 |
| 2019 | 11 | #9,509 | 6.6 |
| 2018 | 16 | #7,295 | 9.4 |
| 2017 | 13 | #8,600 | 7.5 |
| 2016 | 23 | #5,735 | 13.0 |
Every recorded year (104)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 14 | #8,277 | 7.8 |
| 2014 | 28 | #4,980 | 15.7 |
| 2013 | 23 | #5,765 | 13.1 |
| 2012 | 18 | #7,053 | 10.2 |
| 2011 | 22 | #6,068 | 12.5 |
| 2010 | 13 | #9,048 | 7.3 |
| 2009 | 22 | #6,232 | 12.0 |
| 2008 | 27 | #5,385 | 14.3 |
| 2007 | 27 | #5,328 | 14.0 |
| 2006 | 35 | #4,227 | 18.4 |
| 2005 | 31 | #4,443 | 16.8 |
| 2004 | 21 | #5,889 | 11.4 |
| 2003 | 31 | #4,273 | 17.0 |
| 2002 | 36 | #3,694 | 20.0 |
| 2001 | 30 | #4,158 | 16.7 |
| 2000 | 22 | #5,251 | 12.1 |
| 1999 | 31 | #3,849 | 17.5 |
| 1998 | 22 | #4,881 | 12.5 |
| 1997 | 39 | #3,072 | 22.4 |
| 1996 | 54 | #2,411 | 30.8 |
| 1995 | 42 | #2,860 | 23.9 |
| 1994 | 51 | #2,485 | 28.6 |
| 1993 | 47 | #2,620 | 26.0 |
| 1992 | 49 | #2,556 | 26.6 |
| 1991 | 55 | #2,330 | 29.3 |
| 1990 | 53 | #2,361 | 27.9 |
| 1989 | 45 | #2,546 | 24.4 |
| 1988 | 38 | #2,767 | 21.3 |
| 1987 | 29 | #3,227 | 16.7 |
| 1986 | 36 | #2,701 | 21.0 |
| 1985 | 41 | #2,424 | 23.8 |
| 1984 | 27 | #3,199 | 16.0 |
| 1983 | 51 | #2,007 | 30.5 |
| 1982 | 46 | #2,204 | 27.2 |
| 1981 | 30 | #2,956 | 18.0 |
| 1980 | 30 | #2,973 | 18.1 |
| 1979 | 26 | #3,211 | 16.2 |
| 1978 | 18 | #4,009 | 11.8 |
| 1977 | 31 | #2,696 | 20.2 |
| 1976 | 28 | #2,768 | 19.1 |
| 1975 | 19 | #3,585 | 13.0 |
| 1974 | 24 | #2,969 | 16.4 |
| 1973 | 15 | #4,088 | 10.3 |
| 1972 | 27 | #2,644 | 17.7 |
| 1971 | 14 | #4,237 | 8.4 |
| 1970 | 23 | #2,995 | 13.2 |
| 1969 | 16 | #3,552 | 9.5 |
| 1968 | 15 | #3,548 | 9.1 |
| 1967 | 15 | #3,428 | 9.1 |
| 1966 | 15 | #3,347 | 8.9 |
| 1965 | 13 | #3,663 | 7.4 |
| 1964 | 14 | #3,628 | 7.4 |
| 1963 | 13 | #3,737 | 6.7 |
| 1962 | 18 | #2,992 | 9.2 |
| 1961 | 26 | #2,393 | 12.9 |
| 1960 | 22 | #2,619 | 10.9 |
| 1959 | 15 | #3,202 | 7.4 |
| 1958 | 17 | #2,928 | 8.5 |
| 1957 | 19 | #2,700 | 9.3 |
| 1956 | 25 | #2,224 | 12.5 |
| 1955 | 27 | #2,088 | 13.8 |
| 1954 | 26 | #2,107 | 13.4 |
| 1953 | 20 | #2,407 | 10.6 |
| 1952 | 21 | #2,306 | 11.3 |
| 1951 | 14 | #2,883 | 7.8 |
| 1950 | 12 | #3,160 | 7.0 |
| 1949 | 21 | #2,187 | 12.3 |
| 1948 | 6 | #5,040 | 3.5 |
| 1947 | 18 | #2,416 | 10.2 |
| 1946 | 17 | #2,363 | 10.8 |
| 1945 | 15 | #2,302 | 11.5 |
| 1944 | 6 | #4,360 | 4.5 |
| 1943 | 11 | #2,974 | 7.9 |
| 1942 | 15 | #2,372 | 11.1 |
| 1941 | 10 | #2,973 | 8.3 |
| 1940 | 17 | #2,009 | 14.9 |
| 1939 | 10 | #2,857 | 9.1 |
| 1938 | 16 | #2,079 | 14.5 |
| 1937 | 14 | #2,270 | 13.2 |
| 1936 | 13 | #2,346 | 12.5 |
| 1935 | 11 | #2,674 | 10.5 |
| 1934 | 10 | #2,865 | 9.6 |
| 1933 | 10 | #2,806 | 9.9 |
| 1932 | 9 | #3,195 | 8.4 |
| 1931 | 14 | #2,264 | 13.1 |
| 1930 | 9 | #3,236 | 8.0 |
| 1929 | 19 | #1,929 | 17.0 |
| 1928 | 11 | #2,896 | 9.5 |
| 1927 | 13 | #2,646 | 10.9 |
| 1926 | 5 | #5,344 | 4.2 |
| 1925 | 6 | #4,760 | 4.9 |
| 1924 | 5 | #5,583 | 4.0 |
| 1923 | 8 | #3,846 | 6.6 |
| 1919 | 5 | #5,288 | 4.4 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Marilu a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Marilu has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 104 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Marilu: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Marilu, and how old are they?
1,960 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 86% of the 2,279 Americans ever recorded as Marilu. The median Marilu alive today is 36 years old; half are between 24 and 52.
The 2020 Census counted 5,335 people named Marilu (5,318 women and girls, 17 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,953 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2.7 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 65 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 274 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 307 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 675 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 422 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 215 |
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 Marilu born?
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 7 | #2,824 | 1.7× |
Where Marilu is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Marilu is most over-represented in California: since 1919 it was given 2.1 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 Marilu 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 90,366 babies since 1880, Marilu is the eighth most given (2.5% of them). In 2025 it was given to 16 of their 574 babies (2.8%), the sixth most given that year.
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 Marilu
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 Marilu and names like it
- Compare Marilu and MarlaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1990sMarilu peaked in 1991.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Marilu since 1910.
- The top names of 1991The year the most babies were named Marilu.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Marilu alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with MMost given first.