Marda
A feminine name of uncertain origin, potentially derived from "amaradya" meaning "eternal".
Name Census estimates that about 202 living Americans carry the first name Marda. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Marda today is around 70 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marda births was 1955 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marda. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Marda is about 70 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Mardas were born before 1966.
People living today
202
~ 1 in 1,696,804 Americans
Peak year
1955
18 babies that year
Average age
70
years old
2016 SSA rank
#17,891
Tracked since 1917
Popularity
Marda: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marda from the 1910s through to the 2010s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 109 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Marda by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Marda during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Marda
The given name Marda is a diminutive form of the name Martha, which itself is derived from the Aramaic name "Marta" meaning "the lady" or "the mistress of the house." The name Marda likely originated in regions where Aramaic was spoken, such as ancient Syria, Mesopotamia, and parts of the Levant, sometime around the 1st century AD.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Marda appears in the Codex Bezae, an ancient Greek manuscript from the 5th century AD, which contains a variant spelling of the name Martha as "Marda." This suggests that the diminutive form Marda was in use during the early Christian era.
In the Middle Ages, the name Marda was particularly popular among various Germanic tribes, such as the Franks and the Lombards, who likely adopted it from their interactions with Aramaic-speaking populations in the Middle East during the Crusades and other conflicts.
One notable historical figure with the name Marda was Marda of Bamberg, a German noblewoman who lived in the 11th century and was known for her patronage of the arts and her support for the construction of the Bamberg Cathedral.
Another prominent individual with this name was Marda von Salzburg, a 13th-century Austrian philosopher and theologian who was highly influential in the development of scholastic thought during the High Middle Ages.
In the 15th century, Marda de Valois, a French noblewoman and courtier, gained renown for her role in the cultural and political affairs of the French court during the reign of King Charles VII.
During the Renaissance period, Marda Raimondi, an Italian artist and engraver from Bologna, was celebrated for her intricate engravings and woodcuts, which often depicted religious and mythological scenes.
In the 18th century, Marda Sackville-West, an English writer and gardener, was renowned for her contributions to the English landscape garden movement and her influential novels and memoirs.
While the name Marda has waned in popularity in recent times, its historical roots and associations with notable figures from various eras and cultures continue to make it a unique and intriguing name choice.
People
Marda + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marda as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Marda: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marda?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 202 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marda going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,696,804 US residents.
Is Marda a common name?
We classify Marda as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 391 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marda most popular?
The single biggest year for Marda was 1955, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marda is about 70 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Marda a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Marda in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.