Marfa

Girls' name

Transliteration of Ма́рфа

Marfa has been given to 10 babies in the U.S. since 1970. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1970, with 5 recorded.

Babies named Marfa, 1971

1 in 686,000

Marfa over time, 1880–2025

Girls

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Marfa: meaning, origin, and history

Transliteration of Ма́рфа

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Marfa means

Marfa is a transliteration of Ма́рфа.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

Transliteration of Russian and Ukrainian Ма́рфа (Márfa). Doublet of Martha.

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Marfa (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Marfa is used in English and Ingrian.

Marfa comes through ru,uk Ма́рфа.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Ма́рфа and Martha.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Marfa is pronounced /ˈmɑɹfə/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 10 girls were recorded with the name Marfa between 1970 and 1971. Its highest annual count was 5 in 1970; its best national rank was #8,792 in 1970.

How common is Marfa?

Marfa had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1971, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1971: 1 in 686,000; 5 of 3,432,187 births
Among girls only: 1 in 333,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 1971: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 475,803 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Marfa sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 1971 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%

Class of 30Under 1%

Grade of 100Under 1%

School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 475,803 children born in 1971 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Marfa. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Marfas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Marfa was born before 1970 — so the typical Marfa is around 55 today.

Median birth year: 1970; About 55 years old
Biggest decade: 1970s; 100.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 100.0%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 10; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1970s — 100.0% of all recorded uses (10).

Is Marfa rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 1970 (5)
Years since peak: 55; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Not enough data; Too few years
Best rank ever: #8,792; 1970

Spellings of Marfa

Marfa is not the most common spelling — Mary is, with 49.1% against Marfa's <0.01%.

Mary49.1%4,141,481
Maria6.7%566,111
Martha6.5%551,741
Marie6.4%540,077
Sara5.2%436,193
Tara2.1%175,812
Carla1.8%150,390
Marian1.7%141,944

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Marfa is used

Across 1910–2025, Marfa was most concentrated in Oregon — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 282,468 across all states with data.

00 per 100,000

State popularity map

Most concentrated

1Oregon1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Marfa has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Marfa by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #8,792; 1970
Peak year: 1970; 5 that year
First recorded: 1970
Last recorded: 1971
All-time count: 10
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Marfa

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

Marey Marsh Maray Marii Mariamu Marvi Marba Marelys Marsana Marel Marke Marje Marek Marim Marthy Marlus Mareda Martel Mariss Marivy Markai Marron Mariami Marieth

Sibling names for Marfa

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

For a sister

Nicolle Janeen Corinna Lashawn Shonda Jeana Jeanna Trena

For a brother

Judd Douglass Alfonzo Edwardo Shon Brant Scot Darrick

Explore around Marfa

Top names of 1970, Marfa's peak year The 1970s in full Other names that peaked in 1970 Girls' names starting with M