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Mariel

#893 in 2025Girls' name

Diminutive of Maria

Mariel has been given to 7,603 babies in the U.S. since 1914. In 2025 it ranked #893 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2025, with 298 recorded.

Babies named Mariel, 2025

1 in 11,100

Mariel over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
010020030018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Mariel: meaning, origin, and history

Diminutive of Maria

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Mariel means

Mariel is a diminutive of Maria.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Mariel → Maria → Maria → מרים. The family’s proposed meaning is “to be bitter”, recorded in Hebrew with the source elements m-r-r.

Origin, language, and formation

Mariel is used in English, Cebuano and Spanish.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Maria.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Spanish, Mariel is pronounced /maˈɾjel/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 7,482 girls were recorded with the name Mariel between 1914 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 298 in 2025; its best national rank was #770 in 1992.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #1,971 in 2020 to #893 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #1,847 in 2015 to #893 in 2025.

In the United States, 121 boys were recorded with the name Mariel between 1979 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 11 in 1989; its best national rank was #4,029 in 1980.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Mariel?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 11,100
298 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 5,390
0.02% of girls
Rank, 2025
#893
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
7,712 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Mariel 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 2025 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 5004%

Put another way: gather 7,712 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Mariel. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Mariels were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Mariel was born before 1996 — so the typical Mariel is around 29 today.

Median birth year
1996
About 29 years old
Biggest decade
1990s
25.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
40.9%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
7,059
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1990s — 25.0% of all recorded uses (1,870).

Is Mariel 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
+147
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+1,078
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+954
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
2.66×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
100.0%
Peak was 2025 (298)
Years since peak
Peaking now
At its all-time high
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
18.5% average annual change
Best rank ever
#770
1992

Spellings of Mariel

Mariel is not the most common spelling — Maria is, with 22.4% against Mariel's 0.30%.

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 Mariel is used

Across 2016–2025, Mariel was most concentrated in Texas — about 1 in 3,704 girls, against 1 in 8,965 across all states with data. It was least common in Minnesota (1 in 50,000).

227 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Texas1 in 3,704
  2. 2Arizona1 in 4,348
  3. 3California1 in 7,143
  4. 4Nevada1 in 10,000
  5. 5Illinois1 in 14,286
  6. 6New York1 in 14,286
  7. 7Colorado1 in 25,000
  8. 8Indiana1 in 25,000

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.

Mariel around the world

Where Mariel ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2025
    #5,927
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    1991–1991
    #634
    in 1991
  • France
    1944–2005
    #4,746
    in 2005
  • Norway
    1880–2024
    #478
    in 2024
  • Canada
    1991–2024
    #3,457
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1981–2011
    #840
    in 2011

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Norway, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. SSB, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Mariel

People whose public names include Mariel, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Mariel in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Mariel. Linked forms have their own page here.

MarliesMariellaMarielleMarielies

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Mariel by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#893
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 1,078
Best rank ever
#770
1992
Peak year
2025
298 that year
First recorded
1914
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
7,482
Count in 2025
298

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#13,212
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
New entry
Best rank ever
#4,029
1980
Peak year
1989
11 that year
First recorded
1979
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
121
Count in 2025
5

Names similar to Mariel

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

MaryjoMarlynMarnieMarlenMarvelMaritaMarlieMaryamMarcieMarileeMarloMariannMarjoryMarleeMariyahMariamMarcelaMarinMarelyMariyaMargretMarlenaMarandaMarilu

Names with a curve like Mariel

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Mariel, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

SantanaAmberlyKaceyDanaeKaciAustinMairaAlyseKayceeColbyEvanDesire

Sibling names for Mariel

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

Explore around Mariel

Top names of 2025, Mariel's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 1992Girls' names starting with M