Marlene
Marlene is outside the top 1,000 in 2024, with 137 births. Its best rank was 39th, in 1935–1936.
- Rank in 2024
- —outside the top 1,000
- Births in 2024
- 1370.01% of girls
- Peak year
- 19365,332 births
- Best rank
- #39first in 1935
- Since 1904
- 130,396people given the name
The story in the numbers
130,396 girls have been named Marlene in the United States since 1904, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1936, with 5,332 births — 0.51% of all girls recorded that year.
The name has all but left use: 137 births in 2024, against 5,332 at the peak.
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1949, and the 1930s alone account for 29%. It has spent 92 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 12 of them in the top 100.
Rank among girls, year by year
By decade
| Decade | girls named Marlene | |
|---|---|---|
| 1900s | 18 | |
| 1910s | 263 | |
| 1920s | 774 | |
| 1930s | 37,355 | |
| 1940s | 29,294 | |
| 1950s | 25,252 | |
| 1960s | 12,950 | |
| 1970s | 5,728 | |
| 1980s | 4,771 | |
| 1990s | 5,716 | |
| 2000s | 5,283 | |
| 2010s | 2,221 | |
| 2020s | 771 |
In 1936, its biggest year
Marlene was the 39th most given girl’s name that year. The top five girls’ names of 1936 were Mary, Shirley, Barbara, Betty and Patricia. See all of 1936.
Names that rose and fell with Marlene
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Claudettepeak 1935
- Marylynpeak 1936
- Marylinpeak 1943
- Joannpeak 1942
- Harlenepeak 1937
- Marlinepeak 1935
- Sallyannpeak 1937
- Patsypeak 1941
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.