Marlyn
Marlyn was given to 22 girls in 2025, #5,652 among girls’ names; 9,112 Americans have been recorded with it since 1913 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 5,070 Americans named Marlyn and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (56% of everyone recorded); the median is 52 years old and half are between 26 and 76.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Marlyn by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Marlyn?
#5,652 among girls’ names, 2025
Marlyn fell from #3,687 in 2015 to #5,652 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 23.5 to 13.7 per million.
278 babies in 1935, the peak
Marlyn peaked in 1935, when 278 babies were given it (184 girls, #470 among girls’ names). The 22 births of 2025 are 8% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 22 | #5,652 | under 5 | |
| 2024 | 19 | #6,317 | under 5 | |
| 2023 | 21 | #5,880 | under 5 | |
| 2022 | 21 | #5,899 | under 5 | |
| 2021 | 24 | #5,343 | under 5 | |
| 2020 | 30 | #4,508 | 5 | #13,348 |
| 2019 | 19 | #6,330 | under 5 | |
| 2018 | 22 | #5,718 | under 5 | |
| 2017 | 24 | #5,470 | 5 | #13,545 |
| 2016 | 38 | #3,975 | under 5 |
Every recorded year (113)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 42 | #3,687 | 5 | #13,324 |
| 2014 | 59 | #2,912 | under 5 | |
| 2013 | 64 | #2,717 | under 5 | |
| 2012 | 82 | #2,306 | 12 | #6,879 |
| 2011 | 51 | #3,251 | under 5 | |
| 2010 | 61 | #2,860 | under 5 | |
| 2009 | 73 | #2,560 | 9 | #8,746 |
| 2008 | 54 | #3,145 | under 5 | |
| 2007 | 77 | #2,452 | 9 | #8,655 |
| 2006 | 71 | #2,573 | 5 | #13,296 |
| 2005 | 66 | #2,592 | 5 | #12,645 |
| 2004 | 72 | #2,380 | 8 | #8,637 |
| 2003 | 62 | #2,594 | 5 | #12,064 |
| 2002 | 55 | #2,760 | 7 | #9,039 |
| 2001 | 55 | #2,723 | under 5 | |
| 2000 | 47 | #3,000 | 9 | #7,191 |
| 1999 | 48 | #2,835 | 10 | #6,329 |
| 1998 | 58 | #2,419 | 5 | #10,686 |
| 1997 | 74 | #1,956 | under 5 | |
| 1996 | 60 | #2,241 | under 5 | |
| 1995 | 62 | #2,168 | under 5 | |
| 1994 | 61 | #2,197 | under 5 | |
| 1993 | 60 | #2,204 | 6 | #8,297 |
| 1992 | 53 | #2,442 | 5 | #9,321 |
| 1991 | 78 | #1,823 | 10 | #5,358 |
| 1990 | 65 | #2,058 | 6 | #7,744 |
| 1989 | 56 | #2,179 | under 5 | |
| 1988 | 38 | #2,770 | 11 | #4,350 |
| 1987 | 59 | #1,935 | 5 | #7,701 |
| 1986 | 53 | #2,043 | under 5 | |
| 1985 | 39 | #2,524 | under 5 | |
| 1984 | 36 | #2,601 | 5 | #6,968 |
| 1983 | 31 | #2,830 | 6 | #5,955 |
| 1982 | 36 | #2,625 | 7 | #5,388 |
| 1981 | 24 | #3,500 | 5 | #6,906 |
| 1980 | 36 | #2,632 | under 5 | |
| 1979 | 36 | #2,558 | 12 | #3,485 |
| 1978 | 16 | #4,384 | under 5 | |
| 1977 | 25 | #3,133 | 8 | #4,435 |
| 1976 | 23 | #3,152 | 7 | #4,739 |
| 1975 | 25 | #2,929 | 8 | #4,169 |
| 1974 | 18 | #3,646 | 5 | #5,712 |
| 1973 | 26 | #2,717 | 10 | #3,350 |
| 1972 | 29 | #2,490 | 8 | #3,834 |
| 1971 | 51 | #1,765 | 7 | #4,221 |
| 1970 | 41 | #2,034 | 8 | #3,715 |
| 1969 | 35 | #2,160 | 5 | #4,789 |
| 1968 | 34 | #2,078 | 7 | #3,564 |
| 1967 | 42 | #1,804 | 7 | #3,439 |
| 1966 | 41 | #1,787 | 10 | #2,728 |
| 1965 | 38 | #1,879 | 12 | #2,427 |
| 1964 | 50 | #1,620 | 8 | #3,187 |
| 1963 | 59 | #1,456 | 12 | #2,491 |
| 1962 | 54 | #1,534 | 13 | #2,330 |
| 1961 | 58 | #1,478 | 16 | #2,112 |
| 1960 | 37 | #1,874 | 11 | #2,632 |
| 1959 | 58 | #1,412 | 22 | #1,745 |
| 1958 | 40 | #1,716 | 22 | #1,711 |
| 1957 | 48 | #1,565 | 25 | #1,615 |
| 1956 | 75 | #1,207 | 18 | #1,922 |
| 1955 | 70 | #1,202 | 28 | #1,474 |
| 1954 | 75 | #1,149 | 24 | #1,582 |
| 1953 | 79 | #1,086 | 22 | #1,661 |
| 1952 | 74 | #1,098 | 23 | #1,603 |
| 1951 | 75 | #1,072 | 23 | #1,583 |
| 1950 | 88 | #966 | 28 | #1,383 |
| 1949 | 67 | #1,107 | 28 | #1,394 |
| 1948 | 76 | #1,004 | 21 | #1,640 |
| 1947 | 107 | #848 | 29 | #1,386 |
| 1946 | 109 | #789 | 42 | #1,071 |
| 1945 | 78 | #853 | 41 | #1,003 |
| 1944 | 110 | #720 | 32 | #1,182 |
| 1943 | 138 | #648 | 40 | #1,083 |
| 1942 | 130 | #657 | 42 | #1,047 |
| 1941 | 109 | #674 | 37 | #1,085 |
| 1940 | 140 | #590 | 55 | #856 |
| 1939 | 121 | #616 | 68 | #729 |
| 1938 | 158 | #543 | 82 | #664 |
| 1937 | 183 | #484 | 82 | #657 |
| 1936 | 193 | #464 | 78 | #671 |
| 1935 | 184 | #470 | 94 | #601 |
| 1934 | 146 | #538 | 84 | #663 |
| 1933 | 156 | #510 | 86 | #627 |
| 1932 | 134 | #564 | 78 | #700 |
| 1931 | 130 | #578 | 86 | #639 |
| 1930 | 87 | #751 | 81 | #695 |
| 1929 | 78 | #803 | 68 | #785 |
| 1928 | 78 | #819 | 57 | #887 |
| 1927 | 63 | #960 | 52 | #971 |
| 1926 | 80 | #821 | 60 | #869 |
| 1925 | 65 | #928 | 49 | #977 |
| 1924 | 46 | #1,160 | 50 | #1,002 |
| 1923 | 47 | #1,123 | 34 | #1,250 |
| 1922 | 28 | #1,599 | 42 | #1,099 |
| 1921 | 17 | #2,258 | 28 | #1,436 |
| 1920 | 14 | #2,539 | 22 | #1,674 |
| 1919 | 16 | #2,220 | 13 | #2,341 |
| 1918 | 15 | #2,340 | 13 | #2,346 |
| 1917 | 8 | #3,582 | 16 | #1,950 |
| 1916 | 6 | #4,217 | 13 | #2,216 |
| 1915 | 11 | #2,641 | 16 | #1,850 |
| 1914 | under 5 | 6 | #3,127 | |
| 1913 | under 5 | 7 | #2,407 |
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 Marlyn a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 9,112 Americans recorded as Marlyn, 75% are girls and 25% boys. In 2025 it went to 22 girls; SSA lists no boys 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 Marlyn: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Marlyn, and how old are they?
5,070 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 56% of the 9,112 Americans ever recorded as Marlyn. The median Marlyn alive today is 52 years old; half are between 26 and 76.
The 2020 Census counted 8,057 people named Marlyn (7,020 women and girls, 1,037 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 5,762 born in the U.S. The Census count is 40% 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 | 893 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,250 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 577 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 852 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,080 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 417 |
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 Marlyn born?
The states with the most babies named Marlyn are California, Pennsylvania and New York, with 48% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 1,115 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Pennsylvania | 658 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| New York | 401 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Iowa | 353 | not ranked | 2.3× |
| Minnesota | 341 | not ranked | 1.8× |
| Texas | 309 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Wisconsin | 260 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Illinois | 199 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Ohio | 157 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Michigan | 132 | not ranked | 0.4× |
Where Marlyn is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Marlyn is most over-represented in Iowa: since 1913 it was given 2.3 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 Marlyn 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 417,701 babies since 1880, Marlyn is the third most given (2.2% of them). In 2025 it was given to 22 of their 509 babies (4.3%), the fourth 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 Marlyn
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 Marlyn and names like it
- Compare Marlyn and MarilynBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1930sMarlyn peaked in 1935.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Marlyn since 1910.
- The top names of 1935The year the most babies were named Marlyn.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Marlyn alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with MMost given first.