Marilyn
Marilyn is ranked 666th among girls in 2024 (432 births). Its best rank was 13th, in 1936–1937.
- Rank in 2024
- #666up 76 from 2023
- Births in 2024
- 4320.03% of girls
- Peak year
- 194711,881 births
- Best rank
- #13first in 1936
- Since 1899
- 374,490people given the name
The story in the numbers
373,424 girls have been named Marilyn in the United States since 1899, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1947, with 11,881 births — 0.67% of all girls recorded that year.
The name has all but left use: 432 births in 2024, against 11,881 at the peak.
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1945, and the 1940s alone account for 27%. It has spent 118 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 34 of them in the top 100.
It is overwhelmingly a girl’s name: 1,066 boys have also been given it, 0.28% of the total.
Rank among girls, year by year
By decade
| Decade | girls named Marilyn | |
|---|---|---|
| 1890s | 5 | |
| 1900s | 132 | |
| 1910s | 1,306 | |
| 1920s | 34,202 | |
| 1930s | 98,531 | |
| 1940s | 98,977 | |
| 1950s | 80,161 | |
| 1960s | 27,001 | |
| 1970s | 7,929 | |
| 1980s | 5,578 | |
| 1990s | 5,750 | |
| 2000s | 5,376 | |
| 2010s | 6,380 | |
| 2020s | 2,096 |
In 1947, its biggest year
Marilyn was the 29th most given girl’s name that year. The top five girls’ names of 1947 were Linda, Mary, Patricia, Barbara and Sandra. See all of 1947.
Names that rose and fell with Marilyn
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Joycepeak 1942
- Beverleypeak 1938
- Delorispeak 1947
- Beverlypeak 1953
- Beverleepeak 1930
- Merlenepeak 1940
- Patsypeak 1941
- Deloriespeak 1941
Other spellings in the data
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.