Marlynn
A feminine name, possibly a blend of Marie and Lynn, with Marie derived from the Hebrew name Miriam.
Name Census estimates that about 665 living Americans carry the first name Marlynn. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Marlynn today is around 47 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marlynn births was 1955 (25 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marlynn. 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
665
~ 1 in 515,420 Americans
Peak year
1955
25 babies that year
Average age
47
years old
2024 SSA rank
#14,582
Tracked since 1922
Popularity
Marlynn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marlynn from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 153 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
Marlynn 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 Marlynn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Marlynns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, Texas, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Marlynn, while Pennsylvania, Texas, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 10 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Marlynn
The name Marlynn is a relatively modern invention, likely originating in the early 20th century as a combination of the more traditional names Marilyn and Lynn. Its roots can be traced back to the ancient Hebrew name Miriam, which means "bitter" or "beloved".
The name Miriam was borne by the sister of Moses in the Bible, and it has been a popular name among Jews and Christians for centuries. The French form of the name, Marie, became widespread in Europe during the Middle Ages, giving rise to a variety of spellings and diminutives such as Mary, Marilyn, and Marlene.
The first recorded use of the name Marlynn dates back to the early 1900s in the United States, where it was likely formed as a creative combination of Marilyn and Lynn. One of the earliest notable bearers of the name was Marlynn Anker, an American actress born in 1923, who appeared in several films in the 1940s and 1950s.
Another notable figure with the name Marlynn was Marlynn Sawyer, an American writer and journalist born in 1936. She published several books, including biographies of famous figures such as Marilyn Monroe and Katharine Hepburn.
In the realm of sports, Marlynn Jones was a professional baseball player who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League during World War II. She was born in 1923 and played for the Rockford Peaches from 1944 to 1948.
Marlynn Bunzl was an Austrian-born American artist and sculptor, known for her abstract expressionist works. She was born in 1918 and had a prolific career spanning several decades until her death in 2008.
Finally, Marlynn Hawthorne was a Canadian writer and poet, born in 1940. She published several collections of poetry and was awarded the Governor General's Award for English-language poetry in 1991.
While the name Marlynn is not as common as some of its component names like Marilyn or Lynn, it has been borne by a diverse array of notable individuals throughout the 20th century, primarily in the fields of entertainment, literature, and the arts.
People
Marlynn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marlynn 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
Marlynn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marlynn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 665 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marlynn 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 515,420 US residents.
Is Marlynn a common name?
We classify Marlynn as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 952 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marlynn most popular?
The single biggest year for Marlynn was 1955, when 25 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marlynn is about 47 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Marlynn a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Marlynn 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.