Marilynn
A feminine name deriving from the names Mary and Lynn, meaning "bitter sea" or "sea of sorrow".
Name Census estimates that about 6,500 living Americans carry the first name Marilynn. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Marilynn today is around 60 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marilynn births was 1947 (407 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marilynn. 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
6.5K
~ 1 in 52,731 Americans
Peak year
1947
407 babies that year
Average age
60
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,303
Tracked since 1914
Popularity
Marilynn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marilynn from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 3,569 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
Marilynn 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 Marilynn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Marilynns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 41 states and territories. California, Illinois, Michigan recorded the most babies named Marilynn, while Hawaii, Arizona, West Virginia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 230 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Marilynn
The name Marilynn is a modern English variant of the name Marilyn, which itself is a combination of the names Mary and Lynn. The name Mary has its roots in the ancient Hebrew name Miriam, which is derived from the Hebrew word for "bitter" or "beloved". The name Lynn, on the other hand, has its origins in the Celtic word "linn", meaning "lake" or "pool".
The name Marilyn first appeared in the Middle Ages, but it did not gain widespread popularity until the 20th century. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Marilynn can be found in the records of the Salem Witch Trials in 1692, where a woman named Marilynn Gedney was accused of witchcraft.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Marilynn. One of the most famous was Marilynn Monroe (1926-1962), the iconic American actress, model, and singer who became a major sex symbol in the 1950s and 1960s. Another well-known Marilynn was Marilynn Quayle (1921-2021), the wife of former Vice President Dan Quayle and a prominent advocate for breast cancer awareness.
In the realm of literature, Marilynn Hacker (born 1942) is an American poet and academic who has received numerous accolades, including the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize and the National Book Award. Marilynn Robinson (born 1943) is an acclaimed American novelist and essayist, best known for her novels "Housekeeping" and "Gilead", which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2005.
In the world of sports, Marilynn Smith (1928-2019) was an American professional golfer who won 21 tournaments on the LPGA Tour and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2021.
While the name Marilynn has its roots in ancient languages and cultures, it has evolved and gained popularity in modern times, gracing the lives of many remarkable individuals across various fields.
People
Marilynn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marilynn 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
Marilynn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marilynn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,500 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marilynn 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 52,731 US residents.
Is Marilynn a common name?
We classify Marilynn as "Rare". It ranks above 97.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 13,240 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marilynn most popular?
The single biggest year for Marilynn was 1947, when 407 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marilynn is about 60 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Marilynn a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Marilynn 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.
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.