Marylou
A feminine name combining "Mary" and "Lou", possibly meaning "drop of the sea".
Name Census estimates that about 6,549 living Americans carry the first name Marylou. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Marylou today is around 63 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marylou births was 1942 (376 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marylou. 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 52,337 Americans
Peak year
1942
376 babies that year
Average age
63
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,967
Tracked since 1898
Popularity
Marylou: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marylou 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 3,141 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
Marylou 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 Marylou during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Marylous live
The SSA's state-level files cover 32 states and territories. New York, California, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Marylou, while South Dakota, Oregon, Montana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 305 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Marylou
The name Marylou is a combination of the names Mary and Lou, both of which have their origins in different cultures and time periods.
The first part of the name, Mary, is derived from the ancient Hebrew name Miryam or Miriam, which means "bitter" or "beloved". This name is significant in the Christian tradition as it was the name of the mother of Jesus Christ. The earliest known instances of the name Mary date back to the 1st century AD, and it has been a popular name among Christians ever since.
The second part of the name, Lou, is a shortened form of the French name Louise, which in turn is derived from the Germanic name Hlodwig or Clovis. This name means "famous warrior" or "famous battle". The name Louise gained popularity in France during the Middle Ages and was later adopted in other European countries.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Marylou can be found in the novel "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger, published in 1951. In the novel, Marylou is the name of a character who is a friend of the protagonist's former girlfriend.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who carried the name Marylou. One of the most famous was Marylou Whitney, an American philanthropist and socialite who was born in 1925 and passed away in 2019. She was known for her contributions to various charitable causes and her love for horse racing.
Another notable Marylou was Marylou Mooney, an American actress and dancer who was born in 1946. She appeared in various TV shows and movies throughout the 1960s and 1970s, including "The Parent Trap" and "The Rat Patrol".
In the world of sports, Marylou Trettenero was a Canadian sprinter who competed in the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. She won a bronze medal in the 4x100m relay event.
Marylou Sudders is an American politician and public servant who has served as the Secretary of Health and Human Services for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts since 2015.
Finally, Marylou Berk was an American writer and journalist who was born in 1924 and passed away in 2015. She was best known for her work as a columnist and editor for the Los Angeles Times.
Overall, the name Marylou has a rich history that spans across different cultures and time periods, with notable individuals from various fields carrying this name throughout the centuries.
People
Marylou + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marylou 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
Marylou: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marylou?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,549 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marylou 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 52,337 US residents.
Is Marylou a common name?
We classify Marylou 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, 13,084 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marylou most popular?
The single biggest year for Marylou was 1942, when 376 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marylou is about 63 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Marylou a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Marylou 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.