Humanverse

Marie vs Marlynn

American parents have registered 542,270 Maries since 1880, against 959 Marlynns. Marie is still ahead, with 474 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Marie against Marlynn, 1880 to 2025 0 4k 8k 12k 16k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Marie Marlynn

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

Marie 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 2012, when Marie had 523 and Marlynn had 14.

Side by side

  Marie Marlynn
Total US births 542,270959
Most in one year 12,77425
Babies in 2025 4747
Estimated living today 179,000730
Median age today 6652
Peak year 19201955
Best rank 13th girls2,156th girls
Rank in 2025 617th11,932nd
First recorded 18801922
Girls / boys 540,077 / 2,193959 / 0

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 Maries alive today are over 66; half the Marlynns are over 52. That is 14 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: Marie and Marlynn.