Marla
Marla was given to 92 girls in 2025, #2,055 among girls’ names; 38,819 Americans have been recorded with it since 1912 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 32,800 Americans named Marla and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (84% of everyone recorded); the median is 61 years old and half are between 51 and 69.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Marla by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Marla mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Marla is “a female given name from Hebrew.”
American back-formation from Marlene, first used in the 1930s.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Marla?
#2,055 among girls’ names, 2025
Marla rose from #2,675 in 2015 to #2,055 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 37.5 to 57.2 per million.
1,730 babies in 1955, the peak
Marla peaked in 1955, when 1,730 babies were given it (1,725 girls, #193 among girls’ names). The 92 births of 2025 are 5% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 92 | #2,055 | 0.06 |
| 2024 | 79 | #2,340 | 0.05 |
| 2023 | 88 | #2,170 | 0.05 |
| 2022 | 80 | #2,333 | 0.05 |
| 2021 | 75 | #2,408 | 0.05 |
| 2020 | 68 | #2,540 | 0.04 |
| 2019 | 77 | #2,346 | 0.05 |
| 2018 | 63 | #2,727 | 0.04 |
| 2017 | 71 | #2,526 | 0.04 |
| 2016 | 69 | #2,583 | 0.04 |
Every recorded year (106)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 67 | #2,675 | 0.04 |
| 2014 | 86 | #2,209 | 0.05 |
| 2013 | 53 | #3,109 | 0.03 |
| 2012 | 71 | #2,559 | 0.04 |
| 2011 | 68 | #2,628 | 0.04 |
| 2010 | 85 | #2,271 | 0.05 |
| 2009 | 67 | #2,719 | 0.04 |
| 2008 | 68 | #2,710 | 0.04 |
| 2007 | 97 | #2,095 | 0.05 |
| 2006 | 73 | #2,530 | 0.04 |
| 2005 | 89 | #2,100 | 0.05 |
| 2004 | 97 | #1,935 | 0.05 |
| 2003 | 86 | #2,077 | 0.05 |
| 2002 | 102 | #1,776 | 0.06 |
| 2001 | 112 | #1,637 | 0.06 |
| 2000 | 114 | #1,565 | 0.06 |
| 1999 | 96 | #1,709 | 0.05 |
| 1998 | 118 | #1,449 | 0.07 |
| 1997 | 123 | #1,386 | 0.07 |
| 1996 | 133 | #1,303 | 0.08 |
| 1995 | 143 | #1,204 | 0.08 |
| 1994 | 167 | #1,079 | 0.09 |
| 1993 | 160 | #1,121 | 0.09 |
| 1992 | 189 | #1,001 | 0.10 |
| 1991 | 237 | #844 | 0.13 |
| 1990 | 250 | #805 | 0.13 |
| 1989 | 191 | #934 | 0.10 |
| 1988 | 232 | #798 | 0.13 |
| 1987 | 240 | #748 | 0.14 |
| 1986 | 217 | #782 | 0.13 |
| 1985 | 237 | #729 | 0.14 |
| 1984 | 271 | #646 | 0.16 |
| 1983 | 284 | #615 | 0.17 |
| 1982 | 328 | #560 | 0.19 |
| 1981 | 359 | #530 | 0.22 |
| 1980 | 417 | #496 | 0.25 |
| 1979 | 425 | #480 | 0.26 |
| 1978 | 444 | #447 | 0.29 |
| 1977 | 494 | #415 | 0.32 |
| 1976 | 484 | #418 | 0.33 |
| 1975 | 568 | #365 | 0.39 |
| 1974 | 592 | #364 | 0.40 |
| 1973 | 788 | #298 | 0.54 |
| 1972 | 772 | #314 | 0.51 |
| 1971 | 956 | #293 | 0.57 |
| 1970 | 1,090 | #273 | 0.62 |
| 1969 | 1,066 | #270 | 0.63 |
| 1968 | 1,105 | #249 | 0.67 |
| 1967 | 1,067 | #257 | 0.65 |
| 1966 | 957 | #271 | 0.57 |
| 1965 | 901 | #296 | 0.51 |
| 1964 | 971 | #295 | 0.51 |
| 1963 | 1,087 | #274 | 0.56 |
| 1962 | 1,236 | #254 | 0.63 |
| 1961 | 1,138 | #268 | 0.56 |
| 1960 | 1,087 | #272 | 0.54 |
| 1959 | 1,167 | #258 | 0.58 |
| 1958 | 1,211 | #247 | 0.60 |
| 1957 | 1,329 | #231 | 0.65 |
| 1956 | 1,534 | #207 | 0.76 |
| 1955 | 1,725 | #193 | 0.88 |
| 1954 | 1,299 | #224 | 0.67 |
| 1953 | 957 | #262 | 0.51 |
| 1952 | 822 | #282 | 0.44 |
| 1951 | 716 | #294 | 0.40 |
| 1950 | 681 | #299 | 0.40 |
| 1949 | 458 | #367 | 0.27 |
| 1948 | 446 | #375 | 0.26 |
| 1947 | 418 | #391 | 0.24 |
| 1946 | 299 | #449 | 0.19 |
| 1945 | 229 | #476 | 0.18 |
| 1944 | 189 | #528 | 0.14 |
| 1943 | 182 | #561 | 0.13 |
| 1942 | 269 | #449 | 0.20 |
| 1941 | 198 | #495 | 0.16 |
| 1940 | 147 | #577 | 0.13 |
| 1939 | 115 | #638 | 0.10 |
| 1938 | 168 | #521 | 0.15 |
| 1937 | 132 | #588 | 0.12 |
| 1936 | 100 | #660 | 0.10 |
| 1935 | 55 | #943 | 0.05 |
| 1934 | 31 | #1,307 | 0.03 |
| 1933 | 33 | #1,254 | 0.03 |
| 1932 | 41 | #1,122 | 0.04 |
| 1931 | 13 | #2,380 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 11 | #2,795 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 14 | #2,389 | 0.01 |
| 1928 | 8 | #3,639 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 14 | #2,502 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 13 | #2,660 | 0.01 |
| 1925 | 6 | #4,763 | under 0.01 |
| 1923 | 8 | #3,847 | 0.01 |
| 1922 | 5 | #5,503 | under 0.01 |
| 1920 | 5 | #5,478 | under 0.01 |
| 1916 | 10 | #2,954 | 0.01 |
| 1912 | 6 | #2,847 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Marla a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Marla has been given almost only to girls: 38 boys in 106 years of records.
Girls and boys named Marla: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Marla, and how old are they?
32,800 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 84% of the 38,819 Americans ever recorded as Marla. The median Marla alive today is 61 years old; half are between 51 and 69.
The 2020 Census counted 36,374 people named Marla (36,311 women and girls, 63 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 34,104 born in the U.S. The Census count is 7% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 813 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 14,800 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 11,200 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 3,540 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,450 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 962 |
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 Marla born?
The states with the most babies named Marla are California, Illinois and Texas, with 29% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 4,408 | #1,809 | 1.2× |
| Illinois | 2,986 | #1,548 | 1.4× |
| Texas | 2,782 | #3,633 | 1.1× |
| Ohio | 2,303 | #1,621 | 1.1× |
| New York | 1,884 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Pennsylvania | 1,664 | #1,188 | 0.8× |
| Indiana | 1,652 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Michigan | 1,424 | #1,165 | 0.8× |
| Missouri | 1,231 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Iowa | 1,008 | not ranked | 1.7× |
Where Marla is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Marla is most over-represented in Kansas: since 1912 it was given 2.0 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 Marla 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 128,025 babies since 1880, Marla is the most given (30% of them). In 2025 it was given to 92 of their 2,407 babies (3.8%), 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 Marla
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 Marla and names like it
- Compare Marla and MarleyBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1950sMarla peaked in 1955.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Marla since 1910.
- Hebrew namesWiktionary’s origin for Marla: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1955The year the most babies were named Marla.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Marla alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with MMost given first.