Marely
A feminine name derived from Spanish María meaning "beloved" or "wished for child".
Name Census estimates that about 2,810 living Americans carry the first name Marely. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Marely today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marely births was 2008 (1,005 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marely. 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.
Key insights
- • Marely is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 16 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
2.8K
~ 1 in 121,977 Americans
Peak year
2008
1,005 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,247
Tracked since 1989
Census
Marely in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,071 people with the first name Marely, which placed it at #7,386 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#7,386
National first-name rank
People counted
2.1K
2,071 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
97.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Marely
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marely is Hispanic at 97.3%. The next largest groups are White (1.7%) and Black (0.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Marely described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Marely at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino97.3% · 2,016
- White1.7% · 36
- Black or African American0.6% · 12
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.2% · 4
- Two or more races0.1% · 3
Popularity
Marely: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marely from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 1,839 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Marely 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 Marely during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Marelys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 33 states and territories. California, Texas, Arizona recorded the most babies named Marely, while Nebraska, Missouri, Pennsylvania recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 66 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Marely
The name Marely is a variant spelling of the name Marley, which has its origins in the Old English language. The name is derived from the Old English words "mere" meaning "pool" or "lake" and "leah" meaning "woodland clearing" or "meadow". Together, these elements suggest the name may have originally referred to someone who lived near a pool or lake in a woodland area.
In its earliest recorded forms, the name was spelled variations like Mærleah, Mærleage, and Mærlea in Anglo-Saxon times. These early spellings indicate the name's connection to the Old English language and its use among the Anglo-Saxon people of what is now England.
One of the earliest known individuals with this name was Marley of Corbeny, a 12th-century French knight and crusader who participated in the Third Crusade alongside Richard the Lionheart. His exploits were recorded in various chronicles and historical accounts of the time.
During the Middle Ages, the name gained popularity across Europe, particularly in England and parts of France. Notable individuals with the name include John Marley, an English composer and organist who lived in the late 16th century and is known for his contributions to church music.
In the literary world, the name is perhaps most famously associated with Bob Marley, the legendary Jamaican singer-songwriter and pioneer of reggae music, who lived from 1945 to 1981. His impact on music and popular culture has made the name widely recognized and celebrated globally.
Other notable historical figures with the name Marely or its variants include Marley Brant, a Dutch-American artist and engraver active in the 18th century, and Marley Dias, an American activist and author who gained recognition for her work promoting diversity in children's literature in the 21st century.
Throughout its history, the name Marely has maintained a connection to its Old English roots, while also adapting to various cultural and linguistic contexts across different regions and time periods.
People
Marely + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marely 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
Marely: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marely?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,810 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marely 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 121,977 US residents.
Is Marely a common name?
We classify Marely as "Rare". It ranks above 95% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,841 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marely most popular?
The single biggest year for Marely was 2008, when 1,005 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marely is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Marely in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,071 people with the name Marely, or 0.69 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,386 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Marely in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Marely?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Marely appears almost entirely female. Of the 2,078 people counted with this name, 99.1% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Marely?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marely is Hispanic at 97.3%. The next largest groups are White (1.7%) and Black (0.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Marely most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Marely in the 2020 Census, accounting for 97.3% (2,016 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Marely in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Marely a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Marely 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.
Is Marely still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Marely in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Marely can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
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.
How many people share the name Marely?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.