Marilyn
A feminine given name derived from the French name Marie, meaning "bitter" or "beloved lady".
Name Census estimates that about 171,181 living Americans carry the first name Marilyn. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Marilyn today is around 67 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marilyn births was 1947 (11,905 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marilyn. 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 Marilyn with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Marilyn is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 1,066 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • The typical person named Marilyn is about 67 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Marilyns were born before 1969.
- • Compared to the 1940s, recent registration numbers for Marilyn have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
171K
~ 1 in 2,002 Americans
Peak year
1947
11,905 babies that year
Average age
67
years old
1997 SSA rank
#666
Tracked since 1899
Census
Marilyn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 248,664 people with the first name Marilyn, which placed it at #221 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
#221
National first-name rank
People counted
249K
248,664 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
82.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
78.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Marilyn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marilyn is White at 78.7%. The next largest groups are Black (8.9%) and Hispanic (8.0%). 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 Marilyn 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 Marilyn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White78.7% · 195,610
- Black or African American8.9% · 22,051
- Hispanic or Latino8.0% · 19,854
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.4% · 5,999
- Two or more races1.4% · 3,502
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 1,648
Gender
Gender distribution for Marilyn
Out of the 374,490 babies given the name Marilyn since 1880, 99.7% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Marilyn as a male name
- Ranked #8,866 in 1997
- 6 male births in 1997
- Peak: 1937 (45 births)
Marilyn as a female name
- Ranked #666 in 2024
- 432 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1947 (11,881 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Marilyn appears almost entirely female. Of the 248,652 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Marilyn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marilyn from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 99,226 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1940s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Marilyn 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 Marilyn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Marilyns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. New York, Illinois, California recorded the most babies named Marilyn, while Delaware, Alaska, Nevada recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 7,260 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Marilyn
The name Marilyn is derived from the ancient Hebrew name Myrrhine, which means "bitter" or "beloved of the sea." It has its roots in the Greek word "myrrh," a resinous substance used in perfumes and incense. The name gained popularity in the Middle Ages, particularly in the form of "Marylin" or "Marilyn."
In the 13th century, the name Marilyn appeared in various European records, such as the Domesday Book of England. It was often used as a variant of the more common name "Mary," reflecting a devotion to the Virgin Mary in Christian tradition.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Marilyn can be found in the writings of the Medieval English poet Geoffrey Chaucer, who mentioned a character called "Marilyn" in his famous work, "The Canterbury Tales," written in the late 14th century.
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Marilyn. One of the most famous was Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962), the iconic American actress, model, and singer who became a major cultural icon of the 20th century.
Another well-known Marilyn was Marilyn Quayle (born 1949), the wife of former United States Vice President Dan Quayle, who served under President George H.W. Bush from 1989 to 1993.
In the literary world, Marilyn French (1929-2009) was an American writer and feminist, best known for her debut novel "The Women's Room," which became a significant work in the feminist movement of the 1970s.
Marilyn Manson (born 1969), the American singer-songwriter and founder of the band of the same name, is also a notable bearer of the name, though it is his stage moniker rather than his birth name.
Lastly, Marilyn Bergman (1928-2022) was an American composer and lyricist who, together with her husband Alan Bergman, wrote numerous popular songs for film, television, and stage, earning multiple Academy Awards and Emmy Awards throughout her career.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Marilyn
People
Marilyn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marilyn 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
Marilyn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marilyn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 171,181 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marilyn 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 2,002 US residents.
Is Marilyn a common name?
We classify Marilyn as "Common". It ranks above 99.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 374,490 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marilyn most popular?
The single biggest year for Marilyn was 1947, when 11,905 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marilyn is about 67 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Marilyn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 248,664 people with the name Marilyn, or 82.33 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #221 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 Marilyn 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 Marilyn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Marilyn appears almost entirely female. Of the 248,652 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Marilyn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marilyn is White at 78.7%. The next largest groups are Black (8.9%) and Hispanic (8.0%). 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 Marilyn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Marilyn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.7% (195,610 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 Marilyn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Marilyn a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Marilyn 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 Marilyn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Marilyn 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 Marilyn 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 the name Marilyn?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.