Marilyn

What Marilyn means

Meaning not yet sourced. Wiktionary has no word-by-word meaning for Marilyn yet, and we don’t write our own.

Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1947, with 11,881 babies; 356 in 2025 Worked out from the official US and England & Wales counts, not a meaning.

How popular is Marilyn?

US: Falling: down from #426 in 2015. England & Wales: Falling: down from #1549 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1936, when 11,064 girls got the name (#13 that year). First in the US records in 1899.

How common

• About 1 in 4,515 baby girls in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 14,899 baby girls in England and Wales in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in WI (0.59 per 1,000 girls), AL (0.49 per 1,000 girls), MO (0.45 per 1,000 girls) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed girls born in each state.

US vs UK

Marilyn is #760 in the US and #1719 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (girls). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Marilyn were girls.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Marilynn41 US
• Marelyn19 US
• Marylynn16 US
• Marylin11 US
• Marylyn7 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Marilyn

Girls

• Melanie#142“black, dark”^*
• Allison#103Form of Elon, meaning “oak tree”^*
• Victoria#54“victory”^*
• Molly#196Editor’s note Down from #144 in 2015 to #196 in 2025 in the US
• Natalie#89Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 2006, with 10,951 babies; 2,736 in 2025
• Aubrey#146“elf, fairy + king, ruler”^*

For a brother

• Benjamin#11“son of the right/south or son of days”^*
• Alexander#30“to defend + man”^*
• Vincent#107“conquering”^*
• Chase#192Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 2009, with 7,394 babies; 1,904 in 2025
• Aaron#80Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1989, with 15,308 babies; 4,041 in 2025
• Evan#153“God is gracious”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under where there are enough, topped up with common names whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Marilyn’s. Place names are only included if they are in the top 300. Rank is US 2025.