Marylou
A feminine name combining "Mary" and "Lou", possibly meaning "drop of the sea".
Name Census estimates that about 6,549 living Americans carry the first name Marylou. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Marylou today is around 63 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marylou births was 1942 (376 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marylou. 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 Marylou with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
6.5K
~ 1 in 52,337 Americans
Peak year
1942
376 babies that year
Average age
63
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,967
Tracked since 1898
Census
Marylou in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 26,003 people with the first name Marylou, which placed it at #1,370 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
#1,370
National first-name rank
People counted
26K
26,003 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
8.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
76.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Marylou
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marylou is White at 76.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (17.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.2%). 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 Marylou 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 Marylou at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White76.9% · 19,996
- Hispanic or Latino17.5% · 4,554
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.2% · 824
- Two or more races1.0% · 270
- Black or African American0.8% · 206
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 153
Popularity
Marylou: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marylou from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 3,141 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
Marylou 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 Marylou during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Marylous live
The SSA's state-level files cover 32 states and territories. New York, California, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Marylou, while South Dakota, Oregon, Montana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 305 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Marylou
The name Marylou is a combination of the names Mary and Lou, both of which have their origins in different cultures and time periods.
The first part of the name, Mary, is derived from the ancient Hebrew name Miryam or Miriam, which means "bitter" or "beloved". This name is significant in the Christian tradition as it was the name of the mother of Jesus Christ. The earliest known instances of the name Mary date back to the 1st century AD, and it has been a popular name among Christians ever since.
The second part of the name, Lou, is a shortened form of the French name Louise, which in turn is derived from the Germanic name Hlodwig or Clovis. This name means "famous warrior" or "famous battle". The name Louise gained popularity in France during the Middle Ages and was later adopted in other European countries.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Marylou can be found in the novel "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger, published in 1951. In the novel, Marylou is the name of a character who is a friend of the protagonist's former girlfriend.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who carried the name Marylou. One of the most famous was Marylou Whitney, an American philanthropist and socialite who was born in 1925 and passed away in 2019. She was known for her contributions to various charitable causes and her love for horse racing.
Another notable Marylou was Marylou Mooney, an American actress and dancer who was born in 1946. She appeared in various TV shows and movies throughout the 1960s and 1970s, including "The Parent Trap" and "The Rat Patrol".
In the world of sports, Marylou Trettenero was a Canadian sprinter who competed in the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. She won a bronze medal in the 4x100m relay event.
Marylou Sudders is an American politician and public servant who has served as the Secretary of Health and Human Services for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts since 2015.
Finally, Marylou Berk was an American writer and journalist who was born in 1924 and passed away in 2015. She was best known for her work as a columnist and editor for the Los Angeles Times.
Overall, the name Marylou has a rich history that spans across different cultures and time periods, with notable individuals from various fields carrying this name throughout the centuries.
People
Marylou + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marylou 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
Marylou: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marylou?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,549 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marylou 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 52,337 US residents.
Is Marylou a common name?
We classify Marylou as "Rare". It ranks above 97.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 13,084 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marylou most popular?
The single biggest year for Marylou was 1942, when 376 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marylou is about 63 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Marylou in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 26,003 people with the name Marylou, or 8.61 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,370 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 Marylou 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 Marylou?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Marylou appears almost entirely female. Of the 26,002 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Marylou?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marylou is White at 76.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (17.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.2%). 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 Marylou most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Marylou in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.9% (19,996 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 Marylou in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Marylou a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Marylou 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 Marylou still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Marylou 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 Marylou 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 Marylou?
You can see how many people share the name Marylou on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.