Recorded 1884–2025 · United States
Marlin was most popular in 1935, when 400 American babies were given the name — ranking #575 that year. In 2025 it ranked #3,441, with 104 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 22,834 people named Marlin.
Marlin first appears in Social Security Administration records in 1884, which makes it about 141 years old as a recorded American name. It has been recorded in 132 of the 142 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 22,834 American births named Marlin between 1880 and 2025. That is recorded US births, not a world population — it counts people issued a Social Security number at birth in the United States. Of those, roughly 12,981 are estimated to be alive today.
104 American babies were named Marlin in 2025, ranking #3,441 that year.
Marlin is holding steady. Across 2021–2025 it averaged 95 births a year, against 103 a year across 2011–2015 — a change of -8% over the decade.
Measured on recorded births. American births overall have fallen since 2007, so most established names lose births over any recent decade — a name can shed births and still hold its rank. Compare the rank above, which is measured against the other names of the same year.
Across the whole record Marlin is mostly a boy’s name — 7.3% of the 22,834 Americans given it were girls and 92.7% were boys. In births since 2016 it is 14% girls and 86% boys.
Counted from every US birth the Social Security Administration recorded under this name, so it reflects use rather than opinion. A name given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year is withheld at source and is not counted.
Roughly 12,981 Americans named Marlin are alive today — 57% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 54 years old, and half are between 31 and 71. That is a wide band, the mark of a name in steady use across generations rather than a passing fashion.
An estimate, not a count. Recorded births are carried forward through the Social Security Administration’s 2023 period life table, by age and sex. That table describes mortality in one recent year, so it credits the oldest cohorts with today’s survival rather than the harsher rates they actually lived through — the further back a name peaked, the more this will overstate how many remain. It counts people issued a Social Security number at birth, not immigrants who arrived later.
How much more common the name is in each state than across the country as a whole.
See Marlin on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org