Marlyne
French feminine name derived from the names Marie and Lyne.
Name Census estimates that about 292 living Americans carry the first name Marlyne. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Marlyne today is around 47 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marlyne births was 1950 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marlyne. 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.
People living today
292
~ 1 in 1,173,816 Americans
Peak year
1950
18 babies that year
Average age
47
years old
2022 SSA rank
#16,843
Tracked since 1926
Census
Marlyne in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 514 people with the first name Marlyne, which placed it at #20,187 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
#20,187
National first-name rank
People counted
514
514 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
39.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Marlyne
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marlyne is White at 39.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (28.4%) and Black (24.5%). 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 Marlyne 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 Marlyne at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White39.5% · 203
- Hispanic or Latino28.4% · 146
- Black or African American24.5% · 126
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.9% · 25
- Two or more races1.8% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 5
Popularity
Marlyne: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marlyne from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 109 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1940s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Marlyne 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 Marlyne during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Marlynes live
Origin
Meaning and history of Marlyne
The given name Marlyne is a relatively modern name that is believed to have originated as a combination of two older names: Marie and Lyn. Marie is a French name derived from the biblical Hebrew name Miryam, which means "beloved" or "wished-for child." Lyn, on the other hand, is a shortened form of the English name Linda, which comes from the Spanish name Lindo, meaning "pretty."
While the exact origin and first recorded use of Marlyne are unclear, it is thought to have emerged in the early to mid-20th century as a unique and feminine variation of the more traditional names Mary and Linda. It gained popularity as a first name, particularly in English-speaking countries like the United States and the United Kingdom.
One of the earliest known individuals with the first name Marlyne was Marlyne Ingemie, a French actress born in 1916 and active in the mid-20th century. She appeared in several French films during the 1940s and 1950s.
Another notable Marlyne was Marlyne Michaelson, an American author and historian born in 1925. She wrote several books on the history of the American West and the experiences of women in the 19th century.
In the field of music, Marlyne Sawyer was a Canadian singer and songwriter born in 1947. She was best known for her work in the country and folk genres and released several albums throughout the 1970s and 1980s.
Marlyne Sexton, born in 1951, was an American actress who appeared in various television shows and films during the 1970s and 1980s, including roles in the popular series "Alice" and "The Dukes of Hazzard."
Another prominent Marlyne was Marlyne Afflack, a British artist and painter born in 1958. Her works, which often focused on themes of nature and the environment, were exhibited in galleries across the UK and Europe.
These individuals, spanning different professions and time periods, represent some of the earliest and most notable bearers of the name Marlyne. While not an ancient or traditional name, Marlyne has gained recognition and popularity in modern times as a unique and melodic feminine name.
People
Marlyne + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marlyne 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
Marlyne: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marlyne?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 292 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marlyne 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 1,173,816 US residents.
Is Marlyne a common name?
We classify Marlyne as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 478 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marlyne most popular?
The single biggest year for Marlyne was 1950, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marlyne is about 47 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Marlyne in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 514 people with the name Marlyne, or 0.17 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,187 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 Marlyne 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 Marlyne?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Marlyne appears almost entirely female. Of the 507 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Marlyne?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marlyne is White at 39.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (28.4%) and Black (24.5%). 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 Marlyne most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Marlyne in the 2020 Census, accounting for 39.5% (203 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 Marlyne in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Marlyne a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Marlyne 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 Marlyne still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Marlyne 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 Marlyne 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 called Marlyne?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.