Marika
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly a combination of "Mary" and "Ann".
Name Census estimates that about 2,132 living Americans carry the first name Marika. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Marika today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marika births was 1993 (96 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marika. 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 Marika with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.1K
~ 1 in 160,767 Americans
Peak year
1993
96 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
2024 SSA rank
#14,578
Tracked since 1946
Census
Marika in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,941 people with the first name Marika, which placed it at #5,716 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
#5,716
National first-name rank
People counted
2.9K
2,941 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
65.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Marika
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marika is White at 65.7%. The next largest groups are Black (14.7%) and Two or More Races (8.1%). 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 Marika 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 Marika at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White65.7% · 1,932
- Black or African American14.7% · 433
- Two or more races8.1% · 237
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.0% · 207
- Hispanic or Latino3.8% · 113
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 19
Popularity
Marika: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marika from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 652 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Marika 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 Marika during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Marikas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. California, New York, Washington recorded the most babies named Marika, while Ohio, North Carolina, Colorado recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 53 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Marika
The name Marika is a feminine given name of Hungarian origin, derived from the Hungarian name Mária, which is the Hungarian form of the Hebrew name Miriam. The name Miriam is believed to have originated from the ancient Egyptian word "mer," meaning "beloved."
In Hungarian culture, Mária is a popular name, and Marika is a diminutive form of it. The name Marika gained popularity in the 19th and 20th centuries, particularly in Hungary and surrounding regions. It is also used as a variant of the name Maria in other European countries, such as Croatia, Serbia, and Slovenia.
The name Marika has been associated with various historical figures over the centuries. One notable example is Marika Rökk (1913-2004), a Hungarian-Austrian actress, dancer, and singer who gained fame in the 1930s and 1940s. She was known for her roles in numerous German and Austrian films during the Third Reich era.
Another notable figure with the name Marika is Marika Kirius (1911-1999), a Hungarian-American actress and dancer. Born in Budapest, she immigrated to the United States in the 1930s and appeared in several Broadway musicals and Hollywood films.
In the world of sports, Marika Pollák (born 1976) is a Hungarian former professional tennis player. She achieved a career-high singles ranking of No. 21 in the world and won six singles titles on the WTA Tour.
Marika Domińczyk (born 1980) is an American actress of Polish descent. She has appeared in numerous films and television shows, including "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and "Grey's Anatomy."
Marika Frittoli (born 1964) is an Italian operatic soprano. She has performed in leading roles at major opera houses worldwide, including the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, and the Vienna State Opera.
While the name Marika has its roots in Hungarian culture, it has gained popularity and recognition across various regions and contexts, reflecting the diversity of individuals who have borne this name throughout history.
People
Marika + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marika 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
Marika: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marika?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,132 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marika 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 160,767 US residents.
Is Marika a common name?
We classify Marika as "Rare". It ranks above 94% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,292 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marika most popular?
The single biggest year for Marika was 1993, when 96 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marika is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Marika in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,941 people with the name Marika, or 0.97 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,716 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 Marika 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 Marika?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Marika appears almost entirely female. Of the 2,944 people counted with this name, 99.3% 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 Marika?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marika is White at 65.7%. The next largest groups are Black (14.7%) and Two or More Races (8.1%). 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 Marika most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Marika in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.7% (1,932 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 Marika in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Marika a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Marika 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 Marika still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Marika 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 Marika 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 common is the name Marika?
See how many people share the name Marika on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.