Recorded 1913–2025 · United States
Marlyn was most popular in 1935, when 278 American babies were given the name — ranking #694 that year. In 2025 it ranked #9,648, with 22 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 9,112 people named Marlyn.
Marlyn first appears in Social Security Administration records in 1913, which makes it about 112 years old as a recorded American name. It has been recorded in 113 of the 113 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 9,112 American births named Marlyn 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 5,237 are estimated to be alive today.
22 American babies were named Marlyn in 2025, ranking #9,648 that year.
Marlyn is falling. Across 2021–2025 it averaged 21 births a year, against 63 a year across 2011–2015 — a change of -66% 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 Marlyn is a unisex name — 74.7% of the 9,112 Americans given it were girls and 25.3% were boys. It changed hands: since 1925 it has gone mainly to girls, having gone mainly to boys before that. In births since 2016 it is 96% girls and 4% 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 5,237 Americans named Marlyn are alive today — 57% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 54 years old, and half are between 27 and 77. 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 Marlyn on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org