Marlena
Marlena was given to 56 girls in 2025, #2,983 among girls’ names; 11,321 Americans have been recorded with it since 1925 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 10,500 Americans named Marlena and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (93% of everyone recorded); the median is 40 years old and half are between 28 and 49.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Marlena by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Marlena mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Marlena is “a female given name.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Marlena?
#2,983 among girls’ names, 2025
Marlena fell from #2,494 in 2015 to #2,983 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 40.9 to 34.8 per million.
470 babies in 1978, the peak
Marlena peaked in 1978, when 470 girls were given it, #430 among girls’ names. The 56 births of 2025 are 12% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 56 | #2,983 | 0.03 |
| 2024 | 44 | #3,556 | 0.03 |
| 2023 | 54 | #3,070 | 0.03 |
| 2022 | 67 | #2,625 | 0.04 |
| 2021 | 56 | #2,984 | 0.03 |
| 2020 | 72 | #2,434 | 0.04 |
| 2019 | 73 | #2,445 | 0.04 |
| 2018 | 78 | #2,355 | 0.05 |
| 2017 | 62 | #2,765 | 0.04 |
| 2016 | 82 | #2,318 | 0.05 |
Every recorded year (96)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 73 | #2,494 | 0.04 |
| 2014 | 92 | #2,110 | 0.05 |
| 2013 | 100 | #1,973 | 0.06 |
| 2012 | 83 | #2,279 | 0.05 |
| 2011 | 77 | #2,407 | 0.04 |
| 2010 | 72 | #2,555 | 0.04 |
| 2009 | 100 | #2,057 | 0.05 |
| 2008 | 108 | #1,961 | 0.06 |
| 2007 | 97 | #2,096 | 0.05 |
| 2006 | 113 | #1,822 | 0.06 |
| 2005 | 122 | #1,642 | 0.07 |
| 2004 | 95 | #1,969 | 0.05 |
| 2003 | 104 | #1,810 | 0.06 |
| 2002 | 140 | #1,382 | 0.08 |
| 2001 | 139 | #1,374 | 0.08 |
| 2000 | 156 | #1,258 | 0.09 |
| 1999 | 179 | #1,111 | 0.10 |
| 1998 | 219 | #945 | 0.12 |
| 1997 | 201 | #972 | 0.12 |
| 1996 | 211 | #926 | 0.12 |
| 1995 | 188 | #998 | 0.11 |
| 1994 | 238 | #840 | 0.13 |
| 1993 | 249 | #806 | 0.14 |
| 1992 | 249 | #807 | 0.14 |
| 1991 | 238 | #842 | 0.13 |
| 1990 | 194 | #965 | 0.10 |
| 1989 | 207 | #888 | 0.11 |
| 1988 | 200 | #884 | 0.11 |
| 1987 | 216 | #812 | 0.12 |
| 1986 | 252 | #711 | 0.15 |
| 1985 | 231 | #752 | 0.13 |
| 1984 | 229 | #721 | 0.14 |
| 1983 | 244 | #701 | 0.15 |
| 1982 | 290 | #620 | 0.17 |
| 1981 | 255 | #681 | 0.15 |
| 1980 | 301 | #611 | 0.18 |
| 1979 | 387 | #511 | 0.24 |
| 1978 | 470 | #430 | 0.31 |
| 1977 | 423 | #464 | 0.28 |
| 1976 | 168 | #827 | 0.11 |
| 1975 | 135 | #941 | 0.09 |
| 1974 | 125 | #981 | 0.09 |
| 1973 | 113 | #1,035 | 0.08 |
| 1972 | 102 | #1,104 | 0.07 |
| 1971 | 115 | #1,053 | 0.07 |
| 1970 | 126 | #992 | 0.07 |
| 1969 | 140 | #890 | 0.08 |
| 1968 | 116 | #961 | 0.07 |
| 1967 | 108 | #981 | 0.07 |
| 1966 | 96 | #1,073 | 0.06 |
| 1965 | 98 | #1,060 | 0.06 |
| 1964 | 107 | #1,049 | 0.06 |
| 1963 | 93 | #1,136 | 0.05 |
| 1962 | 86 | #1,191 | 0.04 |
| 1961 | 80 | #1,238 | 0.04 |
| 1960 | 71 | #1,307 | 0.04 |
| 1959 | 60 | #1,393 | 0.03 |
| 1958 | 57 | #1,413 | 0.03 |
| 1957 | 64 | #1,327 | 0.03 |
| 1956 | 64 | #1,306 | 0.03 |
| 1955 | 83 | #1,100 | 0.04 |
| 1954 | 104 | #948 | 0.05 |
| 1953 | 89 | #1,021 | 0.05 |
| 1952 | 92 | #986 | 0.05 |
| 1951 | 52 | #1,297 | 0.03 |
| 1950 | 67 | #1,127 | 0.04 |
| 1949 | 65 | #1,130 | 0.04 |
| 1948 | 60 | #1,166 | 0.04 |
| 1947 | 43 | #1,429 | 0.02 |
| 1946 | 35 | #1,495 | 0.02 |
| 1945 | 36 | #1,346 | 0.03 |
| 1944 | 37 | #1,330 | 0.03 |
| 1943 | 32 | #1,484 | 0.02 |
| 1942 | 43 | #1,221 | 0.03 |
| 1941 | 22 | #1,725 | 0.02 |
| 1940 | 12 | #2,517 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 17 | #2,010 | 0.02 |
| 1938 | 30 | #1,362 | 0.03 |
| 1937 | 16 | #2,061 | 0.02 |
| 1936 | 12 | #2,470 | 0.01 |
| 1935 | 12 | #2,522 | 0.01 |
| 1934 | 13 | #2,382 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 15 | #2,113 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 11 | #2,767 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 8 | #3,396 | 0.01 |
| 1925 | 5 | #5,499 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Marlena a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Marlena has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 96 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Marlena: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Marlena, and how old are they?
10,500 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 93% of the 11,321 Americans ever recorded as Marlena. The median Marlena alive today is 40 years old; half are between 28 and 49.
The 2020 Census counted 10,496 people named Marlena (10,479 women and girls, 17 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 10,416 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 129 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,080 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 2,840 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 3,590 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,980 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 903 |
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 Marlena born?
The states with the most babies named Marlena are California, New York and Texas, with 41% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 1,662 | #2,678 | 1.2× |
| New York | 692 | #1,770 | 0.8× |
| Texas | 643 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Pennsylvania | 563 | #982 | 1.0× |
| Ohio | 452 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Illinois | 364 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Florida | 355 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Michigan | 329 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| New Jersey | 268 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Indiana | 211 | not ranked | 0.7× |
Where Marlena is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Marlena is most over-represented in California: since 1925 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 Marlena 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 152,036 babies since 1880, Marlena is the second most given (7.4% of them). In 2025 it was given to 56 of their 308 babies (18%), again the second 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 Marlena
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 Marlena and names like it
- Compare Marlena and MarleneBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sMarlena peaked in 1978.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Marlena since 1910.
- The top names of 1978The year the most babies were named Marlena.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Marlena alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with MMost given first.