Marleena
A modern feminine name of undetermined origin, possibly of French or Arabic roots.
Name Census estimates that about 174 living Americans carry the first name Marleena. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Marleena today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marleena births was 1999 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marleena. 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
174
~ 1 in 1,969,853 Americans
Peak year
1999
13 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2015 SSA rank
#15,721
Tracked since 1962
Census
Marleena in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 246 people with the first name Marleena, which placed it at #33,566 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
#33,566
National first-name rank
People counted
246
246 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
47.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Marleena
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marleena is White at 47.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (20.7%) and Black (19.1%). 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 Marleena 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 Marleena at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White47.2% · 116
- Hispanic or Latino20.7% · 51
- Black or African American19.1% · 47
- Two or more races8.1% · 20
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.8% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.0% · 5
Popularity
Marleena: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marleena from the 1960s through to the 2010s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 68 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Marleena remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Marleena 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 Marleena during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Marleenas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Marleena
The name Marleena is a variation of the name Marlene, which is derived from the German name Marlene, a combination of the Germanic elements "mar" meaning "fame" and "lena" meaning "little one." Marlene itself is a shortened form of the German name Magdalena, a variant of the biblical name Mary.
The name Marleena likely originated in the late 19th or early 20th century as a more distinctive variation of the name Marlene. It has been used primarily in English-speaking countries, particularly the United States and Canada.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Marleena can be found in the 1920 United States Census, where a few individuals were listed with this name. However, the name did not gain significant popularity until later in the 20th century.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Marleena was Marleena Garris, an American artist born in 1941. She is known for her abstract expressionist paintings and her work as an art educator.
Another notable Marleena was Marleena Grabiak, a Canadian curler who competed in the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. She won a bronze medal as part of the Canadian women's curling team.
In the world of literature, Marleena Toivio is a Finnish writer and poet born in 1955. She has published several collections of poetry and has received numerous literary awards in Finland.
Marleena Ismael is an Iraqi-born American actress and model, best known for her role in the 2006 film "The Situation." She has also appeared in various television shows and commercials.
Marleena Motchkunarm is a Thai actress and model born in 1984. She has appeared in several popular Thai television series and films, and has also worked as a model and brand ambassador for various fashion and beauty brands.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have borne the name Marleena throughout history. While not as widely used as some other names, Marleena has a unique and distinctive quality, reflecting its blend of Germanic and biblical origins.
People
Marleena + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marleena 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
Marleena: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marleena?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 174 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marleena 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 1,969,853 US residents.
Is Marleena a common name?
We classify Marleena as "Very Rare". It ranks above 72.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 181 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marleena most popular?
The single biggest year for Marleena was 1999, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marleena is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Marleena in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 246 people with the name Marleena, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #33,566 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 Marleena 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 Marleena?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Marleena leans strongly female. 245 people counted with this name were female (98.4%), compared with 4 male bearers (1.6%). 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 Marleena?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marleena is White at 47.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (20.7%) and Black (19.1%). 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 Marleena most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Marleena in the 2020 Census, accounting for 47.2% (116 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 Marleena in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Marleena a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Marleena 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 Marleena still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Marleena 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 Marleena 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 Marleena as a first name?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Marleena at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.