Marybelle
A feminine name of English origin meaning "bitter" and "beautiful".
Name Census estimates that about 419 living Americans carry the first name Marybelle. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Marybelle today is around 45 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marybelle births was 1923 (74 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marybelle. 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
419
~ 1 in 818,029 Americans
Peak year
1923
74 babies that year
Average age
45
years old
2024 SSA rank
#14,586
Tracked since 1886
Census
Marybelle in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 815 people with the first name Marybelle, which placed it at #14,460 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
#14,460
National first-name rank
People counted
815
815 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
52.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Marybelle
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marybelle is White at 52.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (32.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (5.8%). 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 Marybelle 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 Marybelle at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White52.9% · 431
- Hispanic or Latino32.3% · 263
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.8% · 47
- Black or African American5.2% · 42
- Two or more races2.3% · 19
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 13
Popularity
Marybelle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marybelle from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 589 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Marybelle 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 Marybelle during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Marybelles live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana recorded the most babies named Marybelle, while Iowa, Washington, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 34 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Marybelle
Marybelle is a feminine given name with roots in two separate names - Mary and Belle. The name Mary is derived from the ancient Hebrew name Miryam, which is believed to have originated from the Hebrew words "mar" meaning bitter and "yam" meaning sea. It is a name with strong biblical connections, as Miryam was the name of the sister of Moses and Aaron in the Old Testament.
Belle, on the other hand, is a French name that means "beautiful" or "lovely." It is a popular name in its own right but is also commonly used as a middle name or as part of a compound name like Marybelle.
The combination of Mary and Belle into Marybelle likely emerged in the 19th century, particularly in English-speaking countries like the United States and the United Kingdom. This period saw a rise in the popularity of compound names, as parents sought to create unique and more elaborate names for their children.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Marybelle can be found in the 1864 novel "The Miner's Revenge" by Fergus Hume, where a character is named Marybelle Hendricks. Another early example is Marybelle Haidee Vine, an English writer and journalist born in 1878.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Marybelle:
1. Marybelle Heck (1924-2005), an American actress known for her roles in films such as "The Girl from Jones Beach" and "The Falcon in Mexico."
2. Marybelle Kern (1905-1981), an American singer and actress who performed on Broadway and in various films in the 1930s and 1940s.
3. Marybelle D. Musser (1899-1983), an American educator and author who served as the president of Beaver College (now Arcadia University) from 1948 to 1964.
4. Marybelle Kelley (1888-1964), an American artist and illustrator known for her work in children's books and magazines in the early 20th century.
5. Marybelle Sinclair (1914-1957), an American actress and dancer who appeared in several Broadway productions and Hollywood films during the 1930s and 1940s.
While the name Marybelle has waned in popularity in recent decades, it remains a unique and charming combination that reflects the rich history and cultural influences of its component names, Mary and Belle.
People
Marybelle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marybelle 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
Marybelle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marybelle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 419 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marybelle 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 818,029 US residents.
Is Marybelle a common name?
We classify Marybelle as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,821 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marybelle most popular?
The single biggest year for Marybelle was 1923, when 74 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marybelle is about 45 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Marybelle in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 815 people with the name Marybelle, or 0.27 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,460 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 Marybelle 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 Marybelle?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Marybelle appears almost entirely female. Of the 815 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Marybelle?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marybelle is White at 52.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (32.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (5.8%). 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 Marybelle most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Marybelle in the 2020 Census, accounting for 52.9% (431 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 Marybelle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Marybelle a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Marybelle 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 Marybelle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Marybelle 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 Marybelle 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 common is the name Marybelle?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Marybelle at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.