Marelyn
A feminine name of English origin, a variation of Marilyn.
Name Census estimates that about 777 living Americans carry the first name Marelyn. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Marelyn today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marelyn births was 2008 (45 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marelyn. 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.
People living today
777
~ 1 in 441,125 Americans
Peak year
2008
45 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,720
Tracked since 1930
Census
Marelyn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 716 people with the first name Marelyn, which placed it at #15,916 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#15,916
National first-name rank
People counted
716
716 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
84.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Marelyn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marelyn is Hispanic at 84.5%. The next largest groups are White (9.4%) and Black (2.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Marelyn described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Marelyn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino84.5% · 605
- White9.4% · 67
- Black or African American2.9% · 21
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.9% · 21
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 2
Popularity
Marelyn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marelyn from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 273 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Marelyn remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Marelyn 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 Marelyn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Marelyns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Marelyn, while Florida, New Jersey, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 42 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Marelyn
The name Marelyn is a feminine given name of English origin, believed to have emerged in the 19th century. It is a combination of the names Mary and Lynn, both of which have deep roots in different cultures and traditions.
Mary is a name that traces its origins to the Hebrew name Miryam or Mariam, which means "bitter" or "beloved". It gained widespread popularity after being associated with the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ in Christianity. The name Lynn, on the other hand, is an English name derived from the Old English word "linn", meaning a waterfall or a pool.
While the name Marelyn itself does not appear to have any direct historical or religious references, its component names have been widely used throughout history. Mary has been a popular name among Christians for centuries, with numerous notable figures bearing the name, including Mary Magdalene, a follower of Jesus, and Mary, Queen of Scots (1542-1587), the famous Scottish monarch.
The earliest recorded use of the name Marelyn dates back to the late 19th century in England and the United States. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Marelyn Wynn, an American author and television personality born in 1924. She wrote several books, including "The House of Friendship" and "The Land of the Heart's Desire".
Another notable Marelyn was Marelyn Michaelson (1925-2012), a British actress and writer. She had a successful career in theatre, television, and film, and was known for her roles in productions such as "The Cherry Orchard" and "The Importance of Being Earnest".
Marelyn Eastlake (1933-2021) was an American politician and activist who served as the Mayor of Northridge, California, from 1989 to 1997. She was a prominent figure in the community and worked tirelessly to promote environmental conservation and sustainable development.
Marelyn Melnick (born 1948) is an American lawyer and author who has written extensively on legal and social issues. Her books include "The Melnick Bible" and "The Parenting Odyssey".
Marelyn Wynn Fowler (1927-2020) was an American actress and singer who appeared in numerous films and television shows throughout her career, including "The Andy Griffith Show" and "Designing Women".
People
Marelyn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marelyn 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
Marelyn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marelyn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 777 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marelyn 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 441,125 US residents.
Is Marelyn a common name?
We classify Marelyn as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 815 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marelyn most popular?
The single biggest year for Marelyn was 2008, when 45 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marelyn is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Marelyn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 716 people with the name Marelyn, or 0.24 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,916 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Marelyn in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Marelyn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Marelyn appears almost entirely female. Of the 708 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Marelyn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marelyn is Hispanic at 84.5%. The next largest groups are White (9.4%) and Black (2.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Marelyn most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Marelyn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.5% (605 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Marelyn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Marelyn a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Marelyn 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.
Is Marelyn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Marelyn in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Marelyn can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
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.
How many people share the name Marelyn?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.