Mariska
A variant form of Mary, derived from the Hebrew meaning "bitter" or "beloved".
Name Census estimates that about 996 living Americans carry the first name Mariska. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Mariska today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mariska births was 2007 (107 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mariska. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Mariska with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
996
~ 1 in 344,131 Americans
Peak year
2007
107 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,308
Tracked since 1971
Census
Mariska in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,013 people with the first name Mariska, which placed it at #12,322 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
#12,322
National first-name rank
People counted
1.0K
1,013 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
62.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mariska
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mariska is White at 62.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.7%) and Black (10.0%). 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 Mariska 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 Mariska at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White62.7% · 635
- Hispanic or Latino12.7% · 129
- Black or African American10.0% · 101
- Two or more races8.7% · 88
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.1% · 52
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 8
Popularity
Mariska: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mariska from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 474 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
Mariska 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 Mariska during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mariskas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. Texas, Pennsylvania, Ohio recorded the most babies named Mariska, while Minnesota, Colorado, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 19 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Mariska
The name Mariska is a feminine given name with origins in several European languages. It is a diminutive form of the name Maria, which is derived from the ancient Hebrew name Miryam. The name Maria has its roots in the biblical figure Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ.
In its earliest form, Mariska was used as a pet name or nickname for Maria in various Slavic languages, such as Russian, Czech, and Slovak. The suffix "-ka" or "-iska" is a common diminutive ending in these languages, used to create affectionate or diminutive forms of names.
The name Mariska can also be found in Hungarian, where it is a variant of the name Mária. In this context, the name is likely influenced by the Slavic form but may have developed independently due to the similarities in the languages' naming traditions.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Mariska can be found in the 16th century, when a Hungarian noblewoman named Mariska Révai lived during the reign of King Ferdinand I. Another notable historical figure with this name was Mariska Vinogradov, a Russian ballerina who lived in the late 19th century and was renowned for her performances with the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg.
In the 20th century, Mariska gained popularity as a given name in various parts of Europe and beyond. One famous bearer of the name was Mariska Aldrich, an American actress and singer born in 1928, who appeared in several films and television shows during the 1950s and 1960s.
Another notable Mariska was Mariska Hargitay, an American actress born in 1964, best known for her role as Olivia Benson on the long-running crime drama series "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit." Her mother, Jayne Mansfield, a famous actress and sex symbol of the 1950s and 1960s, also named her Mariska as a nod to her Hungarian heritage.
In literature, the name Mariska appeared in the novel "The Captive" by Victor Hugo, published in 1862, where it was the name of one of the characters.
Overall, the name Mariska has a rich history spanning several centuries and cultures, with its origins firmly rooted in the diminutive forms of the name Maria, which itself has strong religious and cultural significance.
People
Mariska + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mariska 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
Mariska: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mariska?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 996 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mariska 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 344,131 US residents.
Is Mariska a common name?
We classify Mariska as "Very Rare". It ranks above 90.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,010 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mariska most popular?
The single biggest year for Mariska was 2007, when 107 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mariska is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mariska in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,013 people with the name Mariska, or 0.34 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,322 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 Mariska 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 Mariska?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mariska appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,009 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Mariska?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mariska is White at 62.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.7%) and Black (10.0%). 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 Mariska most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Mariska in the 2020 Census, accounting for 62.7% (635 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 Mariska in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mariska a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Mariska 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 Mariska still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mariska 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 Mariska 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 are named Mariska?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.