Marieke
A feminine name of Dutch origin meaning "bitter".
Name Census estimates that about 112 living Americans carry the first name Marieke. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Marieke today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marieke births was 1990 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marieke. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Marieke with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
112
~ 1 in 3,060,307 Americans
Peak year
1990
9 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2005 SSA rank
#12,579
Tracked since 1973
Census
Marieke in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 291 people with the first name Marieke, which placed it at #30,113 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
#30,113
National first-name rank
People counted
291
291 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
87.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Marieke
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marieke is White at 87.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.5%) and Hispanic (3.1%). 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 Marieke 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 Marieke at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White87.3% · 254
- Two or more races6.5% · 19
- Hispanic or Latino3.1% · 9
- Black or African American1.4% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 2
Popularity
Marieke: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marieke from the 1970s through to the 2000s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 42 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1980s peak, Marieke remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Marieke 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 Marieke 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 Marieke
The name Marieke is a Dutch diminutive form of the name Maria, which itself is derived from the Hebrew name Miryam. The name Maria has its roots in ancient Egypt, where it was used as a transcription of the Egyptian name "Mry", meaning "beloved". It gained popularity in Europe during the Middle Ages due to the veneration of the Virgin Mary in Christianity.
The name Marieke is believed to have first appeared in the Netherlands around the 13th century. It was initially a regional variant of the name Maria, particularly popular in the northern provinces of the country. The addition of the diminutive suffix "-ke" was a common practice in Dutch naming traditions, creating affectionate and familiar forms of more formal names.
While the name Marieke does not have any direct references in ancient texts or religious scriptures, its parent name Maria has been widely celebrated in Christian literature and art throughout history. The earliest recorded use of the name Marieke itself can be traced back to Dutch historical records from the late medieval period.
One of the earliest notable figures with the name Marieke was Marieke van Nieuwenhoven, a 16th-century Dutch aristocrat and landowner (1540-1603). Another historical figure bearing this name was Marieke van Zoutelande, a Dutch Golden Age painter known for her still-life works (1617-1681).
In the 18th century, Marieke van der Velden (1736-1801) was a renowned Dutch author and playwright, known for her satirical works and contributions to the Enlightenment movement in the Netherlands. Later, in the 19th century, Marieke Willemse (1820-1890) was a Dutch feminist and activist who advocated for women's rights and education.
One of the most famous historical figures with the name Marieke was Marieke Mulder (1900-1975), a Dutch resistance fighter during World War II. She played a crucial role in the Dutch resistance against the Nazi occupation and was honored with several awards for her bravery and heroism.
Over the centuries, the name Marieke has remained a popular choice in the Netherlands and has also gained recognition in other parts of Europe and beyond. Its connection to the name Maria and its Dutch heritage have contributed to its enduring appeal as a feminine and charming name.
People
Marieke + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marieke 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
Marieke: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marieke?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 112 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marieke 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 3,060,307 US residents.
Is Marieke a common name?
We classify Marieke as "Very Rare". It ranks above 66.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 119 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marieke most popular?
The single biggest year for Marieke was 1990, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marieke is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Marieke in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 291 people with the name Marieke, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #30,113 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 Marieke 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 Marieke?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Marieke leans strongly female. 282 people counted with this name were female (98.6%), compared with 4 male bearers (1.4%). 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 Marieke?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marieke is White at 87.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.5%) and Hispanic (3.1%). 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 Marieke most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Marieke in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.3% (254 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 Marieke in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Marieke a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Marieke 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 Marieke still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Marieke 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 Marieke 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 have Marieke as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.