Maylene
A feminine name of French origin meaning "ill-tempered".
Name Census estimates that about 999 living Americans carry the first name Maylene. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Maylene today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Maylene births was 2012 (41 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Maylene. 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
999
~ 1 in 343,097 Americans
Peak year
2012
41 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,230
Tracked since 1918
Census
Maylene in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,066 people with the first name Maylene, which placed it at #11,857 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
#11,857
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,066 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
37.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Maylene
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maylene is Hispanic at 37.8%. The next largest groups are White (24.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (21.3%). 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 Maylene 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 Maylene at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino37.8% · 403
- White24.8% · 264
- Asian and Pacific Islander21.3% · 227
- Black or African American9.5% · 101
- Two or more races4.5% · 48
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.2% · 23
Popularity
Maylene: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Maylene from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 299 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Maylene remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Maylene 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 Maylene during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Maylenes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Maylene, while Arizona, Florida, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 62 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Maylene
The name Maylene is a modern variation of the French name Madeleine, which is derived from the Hebrew name Magdalene. Madeleine was a popular name in medieval France and was borne by several saints and historical figures.
The origin of the name Magdalene can be traced back to the biblical figure Mary Magdalene, one of the most important female disciples of Jesus Christ. The name is derived from the Aramaic words "Migdal" meaning "tower" and "Tsedek" meaning "righteousness," suggesting that the name may have meant "woman of the tower" or "woman of righteousness."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Maylene can be found in the 16th century, when it was used as a variant spelling of Madeleine. During this time, the French form of the name was commonly used in England and other parts of Europe.
In the 17th century, a notable figure named Maylene Desbordes (1620-1680) was a French writer and poet known for her works exploring themes of love, nature, and spirituality. Her poetry collection, "Les Amours de Maylene," published in 1650, was widely acclaimed and contributed to the popularity of the name during that period.
Another historical figure with the name Maylene was Maylene de Montpensier (1705-1782), a French noblewoman and patron of the arts. She was known for her support of writers, artists, and philosophers, and her salon in Paris was a gathering place for intellectuals and cultural figures of the time.
In the 19th century, Maylene Boulanger (1837-1915) was a French sculptor and painter who studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. She is recognized for her contributions to the Realist movement and her depictions of everyday life and working-class subjects.
Maylene Deslandes (1859-1918) was a Canadian writer and journalist who was active in the women's suffrage movement. She founded the publication "La Voix des Femmes" and advocated for women's rights and education.
While the name Maylene has been used throughout history, it has experienced a resurgence in popularity in recent decades, particularly in English-speaking countries where it has been adopted as a modern variation of the traditional name Madeleine.
People
Maylene + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Maylene 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
Maylene: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Maylene?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 999 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Maylene 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 343,097 US residents.
Is Maylene a common name?
We classify Maylene 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, 1,176 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Maylene most popular?
The single biggest year for Maylene was 2012, when 41 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Maylene is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Maylene in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,066 people with the name Maylene, or 0.35 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,857 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 Maylene 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 Maylene?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Maylene appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,063 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 Maylene?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maylene is Hispanic at 37.8%. The next largest groups are White (24.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (21.3%). 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 Maylene most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Maylene in the 2020 Census, accounting for 37.8% (403 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 Maylene in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Maylene a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Maylene 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 Maylene still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Maylene 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 Maylene 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 Maylene?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Maylene on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.