Marlon
Marlon was given to 195 boys in 2025, #1,105 among boys’ names; 31,292 Americans have been recorded with it since 1914 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 28,100 Americans named Marlon and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (90% of everyone recorded); the median is 38 years old and half are between 22 and 52.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Marlon by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Marlon mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Marlon is “a male given name.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Marlon?
#1,105 among boys’ names, 2025
Marlon fell from #819 in 2015 to #1,105 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 0.14 to 0.11 per 1,000.
1,037 babies in 1972, the peak
Marlon peaked in 1972, when 1,037 babies were given it (1,028 boys, #217 among boys’ names). The 195 births of 2025 are 19% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 195 | #1,105 | 0.11 |
| 2024 | 201 | #1,086 | 0.12 |
| 2023 | 240 | #943 | 0.14 |
| 2022 | 226 | #992 | 0.13 |
| 2021 | 213 | #1,030 | 0.12 |
| 2020 | 217 | #984 | 0.13 |
| 2019 | 260 | #856 | 0.14 |
| 2018 | 262 | #848 | 0.14 |
| 2017 | 291 | #793 | 0.16 |
| 2016 | 284 | #813 | 0.15 |
Every recorded year (111)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 277 | #819 | 0.14 |
| 2014 | 319 | #745 | 0.17 |
| 2013 | 327 | #719 | 0.17 |
| 2012 | 340 | #699 | 0.18 |
| 2011 | 367 | #638 | 0.19 |
| 2010 | 411 | #607 | 0.21 |
| 2009 | 382 | #651 | 0.19 |
| 2008 | 455 | #569 | 0.22 |
| 2007 | 467 | #551 | 0.23 |
| 2006 | 509 | #509 | 0.25 |
| 2005 | 479 | #514 | 0.24 |
| 2004 | 460 | #522 | 0.23 |
| 2003 | 462 | #519 | 0.23 |
| 2002 | 447 | #512 | 0.23 |
| 2001 | 454 | #503 | 0.23 |
| 2000 | 452 | #507 | 0.23 |
| 1999 | 437 | #497 | 0.23 |
| 1998 | 442 | #493 | 0.23 |
| 1997 | 479 | #462 | 0.25 |
| 1996 | 466 | #469 | 0.25 |
| 1995 | 444 | #488 | 0.23 |
| 1994 | 445 | #479 | 0.23 |
| 1993 | 436 | #482 | 0.22 |
| 1992 | 452 | #475 | 0.23 |
| 1991 | 481 | #449 | 0.24 |
| 1990 | 469 | #456 | 0.23 |
| 1989 | 413 | #463 | 0.21 |
| 1988 | 488 | #408 | 0.25 |
| 1987 | 415 | #433 | 0.22 |
| 1986 | 402 | #432 | 0.22 |
| 1985 | 509 | #361 | 0.28 |
| 1984 | 476 | #370 | 0.26 |
| 1983 | 401 | #407 | 0.22 |
| 1982 | 457 | #378 | 0.25 |
| 1981 | 429 | #391 | 0.24 |
| 1980 | 538 | #344 | 0.30 |
| 1979 | 591 | #319 | 0.34 |
| 1978 | 530 | #330 | 0.32 |
| 1977 | 651 | #297 | 0.40 |
| 1976 | 743 | #263 | 0.47 |
| 1975 | 639 | #297 | 0.41 |
| 1974 | 756 | #256 | 0.48 |
| 1973 | 904 | #233 | 0.58 |
| 1972 | 1,028 | #217 | 0.63 |
| 1971 | 766 | #277 | 0.43 |
| 1970 | 458 | #378 | 0.25 |
| 1969 | 231 | #512 | 0.13 |
| 1968 | 235 | #494 | 0.14 |
| 1967 | 311 | #430 | 0.18 |
| 1966 | 259 | #478 | 0.15 |
| 1965 | 261 | #480 | 0.14 |
| 1964 | 267 | #482 | 0.13 |
| 1963 | 350 | #428 | 0.17 |
| 1962 | 290 | #468 | 0.14 |
| 1961 | 303 | #466 | 0.14 |
| 1960 | 296 | #462 | 0.14 |
| 1959 | 269 | #477 | 0.13 |
| 1958 | 345 | #424 | 0.16 |
| 1957 | 293 | #449 | 0.14 |
| 1956 | 365 | #396 | 0.17 |
| 1955 | 449 | #343 | 0.22 |
| 1954 | 203 | #509 | 0.10 |
| 1953 | 84 | #776 | 0.04 |
| 1952 | 98 | #710 | 0.05 |
| 1951 | 68 | #850 | 0.04 |
| 1950 | 52 | #967 | 0.03 |
| 1949 | 36 | #1,194 | 0.02 |
| 1948 | 27 | #1,419 | 0.02 |
| 1947 | 30 | #1,352 | 0.02 |
| 1946 | 29 | #1,321 | 0.02 |
| 1945 | 30 | #1,219 | 0.02 |
| 1944 | 22 | #1,465 | 0.02 |
| 1943 | 30 | #1,274 | 0.02 |
| 1942 | 40 | #1,083 | 0.03 |
| 1941 | 40 | #1,033 | 0.03 |
| 1940 | 19 | #1,606 | 0.02 |
| 1939 | 25 | #1,352 | 0.02 |
| 1938 | 20 | #1,548 | 0.02 |
| 1937 | 25 | #1,362 | 0.02 |
| 1936 | 27 | #1,289 | 0.03 |
| 1935 | 31 | #1,218 | 0.03 |
| 1934 | 21 | #1,538 | 0.02 |
| 1933 | 26 | #1,325 | 0.03 |
| 1932 | 23 | #1,497 | 0.02 |
| 1931 | 25 | #1,415 | 0.02 |
| 1930 | 22 | #1,587 | 0.02 |
| 1929 | 28 | #1,365 | 0.03 |
| 1928 | 25 | #1,502 | 0.02 |
| 1927 | 21 | #1,729 | 0.02 |
| 1926 | 16 | #2,043 | 0.01 |
| 1925 | 21 | #1,721 | 0.02 |
| 1924 | 23 | #1,660 | 0.02 |
| 1923 | 15 | #2,189 | 0.01 |
| 1922 | 10 | #2,928 | 0.01 |
| 1921 | 13 | #2,455 | 0.01 |
| 1920 | 23 | #1,626 | 0.02 |
| 1919 | 9 | #3,027 | 0.01 |
| 1917 | 11 | #2,511 | 0.01 |
| 1916 | 8 | #3,085 | 0.01 |
| 1915 | 9 | #2,747 | 0.01 |
| 1914 | 5 | #3,578 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Marlon a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 31,292 Americans recorded as Marlon, 1% are girls and 99% boys. In 2025 it went to 195 boys; SSA lists no girls with it that year (fewer than 5, or none).
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Marlon: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Marlon, and how old are they?
28,100 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 90% of the 31,292 Americans ever recorded as Marlon. The median Marlon alive today is 38 years old; half are between 22 and 52.
The 2020 Census counted 34,097 people named Marlon (322 women and girls, 33,775 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 27,666 born in the U.S. The Census count is 23% above 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 | 103 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 2,810 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 8,080 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 6,900 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 6,930 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 3,290 |
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 Marlon born?
The states with the most babies named Marlon are California, New York and Texas, with 33% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 4,197 | #840 | 1.1× |
| New York | 2,470 | #1,092 | 1.1× |
| Texas | 2,396 | #870 | 0.9× |
| Florida | 2,042 | #770 | 1.6× |
| Illinois | 1,901 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Louisiana | 1,423 | not ranked | 2.4× |
| Georgia | 1,105 | #1,479 | 1.2× |
| Michigan | 1,071 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Ohio | 1,041 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Alabama | 962 | not ranked | 1.8× |
Where Marlon is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Marlon is most over-represented in Louisiana: since 1914 it was given 2.4 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 boys’ 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 Marlon 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 3 names spelled alike, given to 55,362 babies since 1880, Marlon is the most given (57% of them). In 2025 it was given to 195 of their 304 babies (64%), again the 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 Marlon
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 Marlon and names like it
- Compare Marlon and MarlinBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sMarlon peaked in 1972.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Marlon since 1910.
- The top names of 1972The year the most babies were named Marlon.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Marlon alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with MMost given first.