Meaning not yet researched.
Marlene: US girls given the name each year, 1880 to 2025, from Social Security card applications. 177 in 2025. Its best rank was #39 in 1936.
US births per year · SSA card applications
Peaked at #39 in 1936; #1,268 in 2025. Every baby recorded as Marlene in 2025 was a girl.
Baby name · US data 1880–2025
#1,268 for US girls in 2025. Its best year was 1936, at #39.
Hover, tap or use the arrow keys for any year. Years with fewer than five babies of a sex are not published by SSA and show as zero.
Marlene: US girls given the name each year from 1880 to 2025. 177 girls in 2025. Peak: #39 in 1936 · most girls in one year: 5,332 (1936).
In 2025, 177 US girls were named Marlene, making it the 1,268th most common girls’ name of the year, up 290 places from #1,558 in 2024. That is 40 more than the 137 girls named Marlene in 2024. Its best rank for girls was #39, reached in 1936. That year also had the most girls given the name: 5,332. For comparison, it was #1,169 in 2015 and #112 in 1950.
Social Security card records list Marlene in 119 years of the 146 from 1880 to 2025, starting in 1904 with 5 babies. In all, 130,932 US babies have been given the name, 99.7% of them girls and 0.3% boys. Its busiest decade was the 1930s, with 37,490 babies named Marlene.
Over the 10 years from 2016 to 2025, 1,664 US girls were named Marlene; the busiest of those years was 2016, with 199. In 2025 that was about 1 in 9,081 of the girls in SSA’s list for the year.
Among the states, Marlene ranked highest in Arizona in 2025, at #666 for girls there. It was not in the top 100 of any state. Related spellings in the SSA files include Marlena (11,321 babies since 1880), Marleen (4,121 babies since 1880), Madelaine (3,398 babies since 1880) and Merlene (2,379 babies since 1880). Rarer spellings such as Marline, Marlan and Marlynn are summarised on this page.
Meaning not yet researched.
We publish a meaning only with a cited source and a confidence label, and never generate one. Meanings are being researched for the most common names first.
Wikidata records this spelling as a given name in Dutch and German. That is where the name is used, not necessarily where it comes from.
Rare spellings summarised here: Marline (1,524), Marlan (1,236), Marlynn (959), Marlane (697), Marlyne (478), Marlenne (462), Marlaine (361), Marleena (181), Malene (164), Marlean (142), Marlayne (35), Marlone (28), and more.
Numbers are all-time US births. Links come from Wikidata’s “said to be the same as” (P460, CC0) and our spelling rule: at most two letters different, with the same sound pattern.
No nicknames listed for Marlene in the open dataset we use.
Source: carltonnorthern/nicknames (Apache-2.0).
US girls. Rank within each state. SSA leaves out states where fewer than five girls got the name, so 38 are not listed.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank 2025 | Rank 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona | 10 | #666 | #756 |
| Wisconsin | 6 | #764 | — |
| Minnesota | 6 | #803 | — |
| California | 37 | #809 | #679 |
| Indiana | 7 | #888 | — |
| Pennsylvania | 10 | #908 | #1,570 |
| Ohio | 10 | #936 | #1,127 |
| New Jersey | 6 | #1,120 | — |
| Washington | 5 | #1,184 | — |
| Michigan | 5 | #1,349 | — |
| Texas | 18 | #1,388 | #847 |
| North Carolina | 5 | #1,601 | — |
| New York | 7 | #1,771 | #1,185 |
Births and national rank for each year SSA lists the name, newest first.
| Year | Girls | Girls rank | Boys | Boys rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 177 | #1,268 | — | — |
| 2024 | 137 | #1,558 | — | — |
| 2023 | 167 | #1,354 | — | — |
| 2022 | 191 | #1,257 | — | — |
| 2021 | 141 | #1,502 | — | — |
| 2020 | 135 | #1,568 | — | — |
| 2019 | 160 | #1,408 | — | — |
| 2018 | 163 | #1,384 | — | — |
| 2017 | 194 | #1,235 | — | — |
| 2016 | 199 | #1,231 | — | — |
| 2015 | 216 | #1,169 | — | — |
| 2014 | 211 | #1,168 | — | — |
| 2013 | 230 | #1,076 | — | — |
| 2012 | 257 | #983 | — | — |
| 2011 | 299 | #874 | — | — |
| 2010 | 293 | #901 | — | — |
| 2009 | 392 | #739 | — | — |
| 2008 | 491 | #629 | — | — |
| 2007 | 591 | #528 | — | — |
| 2006 | 591 | #515 | — | — |
| 2005 | 537 | #538 | — | — |
| 2004 | 606 | #485 | — | — |
| 2003 | 559 | #513 | — | — |
| 2002 | 510 | #540 | — | — |
| 2001 | 487 | #544 | — | — |
| 2000 | 519 | #513 | — | — |
| 1999 | 432 | #577 | — | — |
| 1998 | 429 | #573 | — | — |
| 1997 | 448 | #531 | — | — |
| 1996 | 519 | #476 | — | — |
| 1995 | 577 | #444 | — | — |
| 1994 | 561 | #456 | 7 | #7,479 |
| 1993 | 612 | #407 | 6 | #8,302 |
| 1992 | 716 | #358 | 6 | #8,080 |
| 1991 | 752 | #344 | 10 | #5,363 |
| 1990 | 670 | #391 | 9 | #5,653 |
| 1989 | 601 | #412 | 8 | #6,013 |
| 1988 | 489 | #460 | — | — |
| 1987 | 492 | #449 | 5 | #7,707 |
| 1986 | 478 | #452 | 5 | #7,428 |
| 1985 | 445 | #474 | — | — |
| 1984 | 437 | #473 | — | — |
| 1983 | 457 | #451 | 6 | #5,958 |
| 1982 | 481 | #447 | 6 | #6,111 |
| 1981 | 449 | #472 | — | — |
| 1980 | 440 | #479 | — | — |
| 1979 | 466 | #442 | — | — |
| 1978 | 456 | #440 | — | — |
| 1977 | 492 | #417 | — | — |
| 1976 | 492 | #412 | — | — |
| 1975 | 493 | #409 | — | — |
| 1974 | 548 | #381 | — | — |
| 1973 | 529 | #386 | 5 | #5,595 |
| 1972 | 655 | #343 | — | — |
| 1971 | 735 | #343 | 5 | #5,376 |
| 1970 | 862 | #316 | 6 | #4,554 |
| 1969 | 889 | #304 | — | — |
| 1968 | 1,004 | #270 | — | — |
| 1967 | 1,022 | #264 | — | — |
| 1966 | 1,141 | #249 | — | — |
| 1965 | 1,212 | #247 | — | — |
| 1964 | 1,289 | #244 | 7 | #3,492 |
| 1963 | 1,554 | #219 | 7 | #3,539 |
| 1962 | 1,557 | #214 | 6 | #3,880 |
| 1961 | 1,638 | #211 | 8 | #3,269 |
| 1960 | 1,645 | #209 | 6 | #3,915 |
| 1959 | 1,780 | #200 | — | — |
| 1958 | 1,964 | #185 | — | — |
| 1957 | 2,126 | #177 | — | — |
| 1956 | 2,128 | #170 | 7 | #3,418 |
| 1955 | 2,566 | #142 | 6 | #3,741 |
| 1954 | 2,651 | #141 | 5 | #4,169 |
| 1953 | 2,767 | #128 | — | — |
| 1952 | 3,132 | #117 | — | — |
| 1951 | 3,007 | #118 | 7 | #3,250 |
| 1950 | 3,130 | #112 | 5 | #4,008 |
| 1949 | 3,045 | #110 | — | — |
| 1948 | 3,053 | #109 | 5 | #4,000 |
| 1947 | 2,989 | #114 | — | — |
| 1946 | 2,818 | #112 | — | — |
| 1945 | 2,528 | #110 | 13 | #1,984 |
| 1944 | 2,566 | #106 | 5 | #3,740 |
| 1943 | 2,857 | #104 | 8 | #2,873 |
| 1942 | 3,253 | #84 | 8 | #2,858 |
| 1941 | 3,068 | #83 | 20 | #1,568 |
| 1940 | 3,118 | #80 | 17 | #1,722 |
| 1939 | 3,773 | #64 | 15 | #1,845 |
| 1938 | 4,473 | #51 | 19 | #1,595 |
| 1937 | 5,037 | #40 | 16 | #1,802 |
| 1936 | 5,332 | #39 | 22 | #1,443 |
| 1935 | 4,830 | #39 | 12 | #2,202 |
| 1934 | 3,755 | #57 | 17 | #1,765 |
| 1933 | 4,045 | #50 | 15 | #1,881 |
| 1932 | 3,219 | #78 | 7 | #3,265 |
| 1931 | 2,585 | #95 | 12 | #2,284 |
| 1930 | 306 | #388 | — | — |
| 1929 | 129 | #605 | — | — |
| 1928 | 99 | #712 | — | — |
| 1927 | 80 | #820 | — | — |
| 1926 | 63 | #949 | — | — |
| 1925 | 58 | #983 | — | — |
| 1924 | 73 | #884 | — | — |
| 1923 | 114 | #689 | — | — |
| 1922 | 59 | #974 | — | — |
| 1921 | 43 | #1,178 | — | — |
| 1920 | 56 | #986 | — | — |
| 1919 | 47 | #1,070 | — | — |
| 1918 | 46 | #1,083 | — | — |
| 1917 | 40 | #1,141 | — | — |
| 1916 | 25 | #1,514 | — | — |
| 1915 | 33 | #1,214 | — | — |
| 1914 | 21 | #1,419 | — | — |
| 1913 | 22 | #1,210 | — | — |
| 1912 | 8 | #2,284 | — | — |
| 1911 | 11 | #1,515 | — | — |
| 1910 | 10 | #1,587 | — | — |
| 1909 | 7 | #1,896 | — | — |
| 1906 | 6 | #1,867 | — | — |
| 1904 | 5 | #2,067 | — | — |
About the data: counts are Social Security card applications for US births, for names given to at least five babies of a sex in a year (SSA, names.zip, public domain). Ranks follow SSA’s own order: most births first, ties alphabetical. Files retrieved 2026-10-05 (checksum on our sources page).