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Mariali vs Martha

American parents have registered 553,732 Marthas since 1880, against 25 Marialis. Martha is still ahead, with 393 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Mariali against Martha, 1880 to 2025 0 3k 6k 9k 12k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Mariali Martha

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Martha has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2000, when Mariali had 16 and Martha had 788.

Side by side

  Mariali Martha
Total US births 25553,732
Most in one year 1610,673
Babies in 2025 under 5393
Estimated living today 30231,000
Median age today 2570
Peak year 20001947
Best rank 6,487th girls32nd girls
Rank in 2025 unranked712th
First recorded 20001880
Girls / boys 25 / 0551,741 / 1,991

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Marthas alive today are over 70; half the Marialis are over 25. That is 45 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Mariali and Martha.