Marlan
A feminine name of obscure origin, possibly a blend of Mary and Eileen.
Name Census estimates that about 797 living Americans carry the first name Marlan. It is a predominantly male name (98.9% of registrations). The average person named Marlan today is around 55 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marlan births was 1952 (33 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marlan. 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
797
~ 1 in 430,056 Americans
Peak year
1952
33 babies that year
Average age
55
years old
2022 SSA rank
#7,251
Tracked since 1915
Census
Marlan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 893 people with the first name Marlan, which placed it at #13,490 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
#13,490
National first-name rank
People counted
893
893 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
59.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Marlan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marlan is White at 59.1%. The next largest groups are Black (27.3%) and Hispanic (7.2%). 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 Marlan 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 Marlan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White59.1% · 528
- Black or African American27.3% · 244
- Hispanic or Latino7.2% · 64
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.5% · 22
- Two or more races2.5% · 22
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 13
Gender
Gender distribution for Marlan
Marlan leans heavily male at 98.9% of total registrations, but 14 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Marlan as a male name
- Ranked #13,619 in 2022
- 5 male births in 2022
- Peak: 1941 (27 births)
Marlan as a female name
- Ranked #7,251 in 1963
- 5 female births in 1963
- Peak: 1952 (9 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Marlan leans strongly male. 766 people counted with this name were male (85.4%), compared with 131 female bearers (14.6%).
Popularity
Marlan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marlan from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 182 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Marlan 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 Marlan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Marlans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Minnesota, California, Michigan recorded the most babies named Marlan, while Michigan, California, Minnesota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 7 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Marlan
The name Marlan is believed to have originated from the ancient Germanic language, where it was likely derived from the combination of the words "mari" meaning "sea" and "lant" meaning "land." This suggests that the name may have initially referred to someone living near the coastline or by the sea.
In the early medieval period, the name Marlan was particularly prevalent in regions with strong Germanic cultural influences, such as parts of modern-day Germany, the Netherlands, and Scandinavia. Variations of the spelling, including Marlen, Marlene, and Marlene, were also commonly used during this time.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Marlan can be traced back to a 9th-century manuscript from the Benedictine monastery of Fulda in central Germany, where a monk by the name of Marlan is mentioned as a scribe and copyist. This provides evidence that the name was in use during the Carolingian Renaissance period.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Marlan continued to be used, particularly among noble families and the aristocracy. One notable figure bearing this name was Marlan von Sternberg, a German knight who participated in the Crusades during the 12th century and later became a prominent landowner in the Rhineland region.
In the Renaissance era, the name Marlan gained further recognition with the birth of the Italian painter Marlan Battista Naldini (1537-1591), who was renowned for his frescoes and altarpieces adorning churches in Florence and Rome.
Another significant figure in history bearing the name Marlan was the French philosopher and mathematician Marlan Mersenne (1588-1648), who made important contributions to the development of modern mathematics and is particularly known for his work on prime numbers and the Mersenne prime.
During the 19th century, the name Marlan was popularized by the German writer and poet Marlan Rilke (1875-1926), whose poetic works, such as the "Duino Elegies" and "Sonnets to Orpheus," have had a lasting impact on modern literature.
While the name Marlan has had a long and rich history, it is important to note that its usage and popularity have varied across different regions and time periods, with some cultures embracing it more than others.
People
Marlan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marlan 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
Marlan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marlan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 797 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marlan 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 430,056 US residents.
Is Marlan a common name?
We classify Marlan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,231 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marlan most popular?
The single biggest year for Marlan was 1952, when 33 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marlan is about 55 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Marlan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 893 people with the name Marlan, or 0.30 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,490 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 Marlan 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 Marlan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Marlan leans strongly male. 766 people counted with this name were male (85.4%), compared with 131 female bearers (14.6%). 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 Marlan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marlan is White at 59.1%. The next largest groups are Black (27.3%) and Hispanic (7.2%). 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 Marlan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Marlan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 59.1% (528 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 Marlan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Marlan a male name?
Yes, 98.9% of people registered as Marlan in the SSA data are male. 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 Marlan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Marlan 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 Marlan 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 Marlan?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Marlan on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.