Marili
A feminine name of Finnish origin meaning "butterfly".
Name Census estimates that about 254 living Americans carry the first name Marili. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Marili today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marili births was 1996 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marili. 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
254
~ 1 in 1,349,427 Americans
Peak year
1996
20 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2018 SSA rank
#14,998
Tracked since 1983
Census
Marili in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 455 people with the first name Marili, which placed it at #22,044 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
#22,044
National first-name rank
People counted
455
455 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
88.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Marili
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marili is Hispanic at 88.4%. The next largest groups are White (6.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.7%). 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 Marili 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 Marili at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino88.4% · 402
- White6.4% · 29
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.7% · 17
- Two or more races0.9% · 4
- Black or African American0.7% · 3
Popularity
Marili: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marili from the 1980s through to the 2010s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 98 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Marili remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Marili 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 Marili during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Marilis live
Origin
Meaning and history of Marili
The name Marili is a feminine given name of uncertain origin. It is likely a combination of the names Maria and Lili, both of which have their roots in different languages and cultures.
Maria is a name derived from the Hebrew name Miryam, which means "bitter" or "beloved." It was the name of the mother of Jesus in the New Testament and has been a popular name among Christians for centuries. Lili, on the other hand, is a diminutive form of the name Elizabeth, which has its origins in the Hebrew name Elisheva, meaning "God is my oath."
While the exact origins of the name Marili are unclear, it is believed to have first emerged in various European countries during the Middle Ages or the Renaissance period. It may have been a combination of the names Maria and Lili used by families who wanted to honor both names in a single name.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Marili was in the 16th century, when it was recorded as the name of a minor noblewoman in the court of the Holy Roman Empire. However, it was not until the 19th century that the name gained more widespread popularity, particularly in German-speaking regions of Europe.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Marili. One of the earliest was Marili von Sachsen-Weimar (1515-1583), a German princess and abbess of the Quedlinburg Abbey. Another was Marili von Sachsen-Meiningen (1681-1753), a German noblewoman and composer who wrote several operas and instrumental works.
In more recent times, Marili Norden (1904-1983) was a Swedish author and translator who wrote several novels and children's books. Marili Bayer (1915-2003) was a German actress who appeared in numerous films and television shows throughout her career.
Perhaps the most famous bearer of the name Marili was Marili Myren (1944-2012), a Norwegian actress and model who starred in several films in the 1960s and 1970s, including the James Bond film "The Spy Who Loved Me" (1977).
While the name Marili is not as common today as it once was, it remains a unique and intriguing name with a rich history spanning several centuries and cultures.
People
Marili + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marili 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
Marili: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marili?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 254 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marili 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 1,349,427 US residents.
Is Marili a common name?
We classify Marili as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 261 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marili most popular?
The single biggest year for Marili was 1996, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marili is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Marili in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 455 people with the name Marili, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #22,044 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 Marili 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 Marili?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Marili appears almost entirely female. Of the 447 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Marili?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marili is Hispanic at 88.4%. The next largest groups are White (6.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.7%). 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 Marili most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Marili in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.4% (402 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 Marili in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Marili a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Marili 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 Marili still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Marili 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 Marili 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 Marili?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.