Marley
Marley is given to both girls and boys: 950 girls and 131 boys were given it in 2025 (#322 among girls’ names and #1,397 among boys’, #618 among all names counting both); 38,404 Americans have been recorded with it since 1914 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 37,800 Americans named Marley and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (99% of everyone recorded); the median is 13 years old and half are between 7 and 18.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Marley by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Marley mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Marley is “a female given name transferred from the surname.” Its etymology gives the senses “boundary” (mære) and “pleasant” (myrig) and “marten” (mearþ).
Also “a male given name transferred from the surname.”
From several different places in England, from Old English mære (“boundary”) or myrig (“pleasant”) or mearþ (“marten”) + lēah (“woodland clearing”). In the first case, equivalent to mere (“boundary”) + -ley (“lea”).
/ˈmɑ(ɹ)li/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Marley?
#322 among girls’ names, 2025
Marley fell from #218 in 2015 to #322 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 0.84 to 0.59 per 1,000.
2,650 babies in 2008, the peak
Marley peaked in 2008, when 2,650 babies were given it (2,359 girls, #145 among girls’ names). The 1,081 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 41% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 950 | #322 | 131 | #1,397 |
| 2024 | 1,108 | #286 | 164 | #1,228 |
| 2023 | 1,108 | #284 | 166 | #1,204 |
| 2022 | 1,139 | #276 | 184 | #1,140 |
| 2021 | 1,379 | #215 | 180 | #1,133 |
| 2020 | 1,369 | #211 | 234 | #943 |
| 2019 | 1,336 | #233 | 192 | #1,065 |
| 2018 | 1,418 | #222 | 244 | #889 |
| 2017 | 1,475 | #209 | 220 | #950 |
| 2016 | 1,500 | #215 | 263 | #859 |
Every recorded year (98)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 1,499 | #218 | 262 | #863 |
| 2014 | 1,650 | #203 | 279 | #816 |
| 2013 | 1,533 | #210 | 239 | #879 |
| 2012 | 1,242 | #260 | 190 | #1,028 |
| 2011 | 1,237 | #259 | 182 | #1,045 |
| 2010 | 1,345 | #234 | 221 | #917 |
| 2009 | 2,171 | #149 | 286 | #790 |
| 2008 | 2,359 | #145 | 291 | #766 |
| 2007 | 839 | #391 | 139 | #1,268 |
| 2006 | 766 | #416 | 133 | #1,263 |
| 2005 | 651 | #473 | 93 | #1,530 |
| 2004 | 556 | #517 | 76 | #1,691 |
| 2003 | 486 | #574 | 84 | #1,531 |
| 2002 | 404 | #631 | 78 | #1,579 |
| 2001 | 423 | #596 | 60 | #1,851 |
| 2000 | 337 | #695 | 59 | #1,823 |
| 1999 | 317 | #715 | 54 | #1,840 |
| 1998 | 287 | #753 | 42 | #2,181 |
| 1997 | 226 | #892 | 40 | #2,188 |
| 1996 | 233 | #857 | 28 | #2,717 |
| 1995 | 210 | #900 | 23 | #3,060 |
| 1994 | 214 | #899 | 36 | #2,237 |
| 1993 | 176 | #1,045 | 33 | #2,321 |
| 1992 | 153 | #1,149 | 24 | #2,890 |
| 1991 | 135 | #1,250 | 10 | #5,357 |
| 1990 | 84 | #1,746 | 13 | #4,314 |
| 1989 | 89 | #1,576 | 19 | #3,162 |
| 1988 | 76 | #1,698 | 11 | #4,349 |
| 1987 | 64 | #1,826 | 9 | #4,800 |
| 1986 | 63 | #1,807 | 9 | #4,705 |
| 1985 | 86 | #1,455 | 11 | #3,945 |
| 1984 | 32 | #2,824 | 15 | #3,046 |
| 1983 | 31 | #2,829 | 9 | #4,362 |
| 1982 | 25 | #3,382 | 18 | #2,661 |
| 1981 | 18 | #4,268 | 13 | #3,341 |
| 1980 | 13 | #5,427 | 5 | #6,889 |
| 1979 | 14 | #4,987 | under 5 | |
| 1978 | 15 | #4,585 | 6 | #5,521 |
| 1977 | 19 | #3,856 | under 5 | |
| 1976 | 6 | #8,805 | under 5 | |
| 1975 | 12 | #5,031 | 6 | #5,211 |
| 1974 | 15 | #4,152 | under 5 | |
| 1973 | 12 | #4,736 | under 5 | |
| 1972 | 12 | #4,685 | under 5 | |
| 1971 | 11 | #4,999 | 5 | #5,375 |
| 1970 | 8 | #6,142 | under 5 | |
| 1969 | 10 | #4,915 | 6 | #4,236 |
| 1968 | 5 | #7,733 | under 5 | |
| 1967 | 7 | #5,820 | under 5 | |
| 1966 | 8 | #5,123 | under 5 | |
| 1965 | 5 | #7,157 | under 5 | |
| 1962 | 6 | #6,316 | 5 | #4,431 |
| 1959 | 7 | #5,372 | 9 | #2,969 |
| 1958 | under 5 | 5 | #4,302 | |
| 1957 | 7 | #5,204 | 5 | #4,337 |
| 1956 | under 5 | 10 | #2,729 | |
| 1955 | 5 | #6,398 | 5 | #4,197 |
| 1954 | under 5 | 6 | #3,686 | |
| 1953 | 6 | #5,440 | under 5 | |
| 1951 | 7 | #4,668 | 10 | #2,592 |
| 1950 | 6 | #5,080 | 7 | #3,219 |
| 1949 | 7 | #4,523 | 5 | #4,030 |
| 1948 | 5 | #5,732 | under 5 | |
| 1947 | under 5 | 11 | #2,457 | |
| 1946 | 6 | #4,790 | under 5 | |
| 1944 | under 5 | 6 | #3,325 | |
| 1942 | under 5 | 11 | #2,342 | |
| 1939 | under 5 | 10 | #2,389 | |
| 1938 | 6 | #4,164 | 8 | #2,790 |
| 1937 | 6 | #4,100 | 8 | #2,813 |
| 1936 | under 5 | 7 | #3,058 | |
| 1934 | under 5 | 13 | #2,085 | |
| 1932 | under 5 | 7 | #3,265 | |
| 1929 | under 5 | 8 | #3,150 | |
| 1928 | under 5 | 9 | #2,986 | |
| 1927 | under 5 | 6 | #4,033 | |
| 1926 | under 5 | 7 | #3,599 | |
| 1925 | under 5 | 7 | #3,615 | |
| 1924 | under 5 | 10 | #2,949 | |
| 1923 | under 5 | 8 | #3,349 | |
| 1922 | under 5 | 5 | #4,714 | |
| 1921 | under 5 | 12 | #2,578 | |
| 1920 | under 5 | 8 | #3,387 | |
| 1918 | under 5 | 7 | #3,587 | |
| 1917 | under 5 | 7 | #3,439 | |
| 1916 | under 5 | 7 | #3,383 | |
| 1915 | under 5 | 8 | #2,974 | |
| 1914 | under 5 | 7 | #2,813 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Marley a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 38,404 Americans recorded as Marley, 86% are girls and 14% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Marley: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Marley, and how old are they?
37,800 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 99% of the 38,404 Americans ever recorded as Marley. The median Marley alive today is 13 years old; half are between 7 and 18.
The 2020 Census counted 27,696 people named Marley (23,986 women and girls, 3,710 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 30,251 born in the U.S. The Census count is 8% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 19 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 97 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 186 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,920 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 15,500 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 20,100 |
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 Marley born?
The states with the most babies named Marley are California, Texas and Florida, with 23% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 91 | #465 | 0.8× |
| Texas | 78 | #509 | 0.7× |
| Florida | 63 | #354 | 1.0× |
| New York | 50 | #417 | 0.6× |
| Georgia | 49 | #217 | 1.2× |
| North Carolina | 43 | #317 | 1.1× |
| Ohio | 40 | #278 | 0.9× |
| Michigan | 37 | #250 | 0.8× |
| Tennessee | 35 | #231 | 1.2× |
| Pennsylvania | 34 | #322 | 0.9× |
Where Marley is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Marley is most over-represented in Louisiana: since 1914 it was given 1.4 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 Marley 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 127,562 babies since 1880, Marley is the second most given (30% of them). In 2025 it was given to 1,081 of their 2,390 babies (45%), the 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 Marley
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 Marley and names like it
- Compare Marley and MarlaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sMarley peaked in 2008.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Marley since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Marley: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2008The year the most babies were named Marley.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Marley alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with MMost given first.