Name Awesome

Marlen

#3,625 in 2025UnisexGirls' nameBoys' name

Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition

Marlen has been given to 6,438 babies in the U.S. since 1932. In 2025 it ranked #3,625 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2007, with 263 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 86% girls, 14% boys all-time.

Babies named Marlen, 2025

1 in 78,900

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Girls or boys — Marlen over time

In 2025, Marlen went to 88% girls and 12% boys.

19152025

A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.

Marlen: meaning, origin, and history

Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Marlen means

Marlen has more than one naming route in the cited origin entries: distinct naming traditions.

The naming story behind Marlen

A separate documented entry treats Marlen as a variant of Marlene. That is a personal-name relationship, which differs from translating the letters of the modern spelling into one universal English word. The linked origin entry identifies the context of this relationship.

Origin, language, and formation

Marlen is used in German.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Marlene.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 5,512 girls were recorded with the name Marlen between 1932 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 263 in 2007; its best national rank was #918 in 2003.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #2,921 in 2020 to #3,625 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #2,836 in 2015 to #3,625 in 2025.

In the United States, 926 boys were recorded with the name Marlen between 1915 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 26 in 1938; its best national rank was #1,327 in 1938.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #13,348 in 2020 to #11,510 in 2025.

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 Marlen?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 78,900
42 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 38,300
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#3,625
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
54,713 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Marlen 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 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 54,713 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Marlen. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Marlens were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Marlen was born before 2002 — so the typical Marlen is around 23 today.

Median birth year
2002
About 23 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
39.4% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
54.7%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
5,426
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 39.4% of all recorded uses (2,171).

Is Marlen 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
−70
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−704
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−789
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.68×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
16.0%
Peak was 2007 (263)
Years since peak
18
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Steady
10.7% average annual change
Best rank ever
#918
2003

Spellings of Marlen

Marlen is not the most common spelling — Karen is, with 27.3% against Marlen's 0.15%.

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 Marlen is used — girls

Across 1910–2025, Marlen was most concentrated in California — about 1 in 10,000 girls, against 1 in 23,420 across all states with data. It was least common in Tennessee (1 in —).

010 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in 10,000
  2. 2Texas1 in 10,000
  3. 3Arizona1 in 16,667
  4. 4Nevada1 in 20,000
  5. 5Illinois1 in 25,000
  6. 6Colorado1 in 33,333
  7. 7Florida1 in 50,000
  8. 8Georgia1 in 50,000

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. Marlen has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Where Marlen is used — boys

Across 1910–2025, Marlen was most concentrated in Minnesota — about 1 in 100,000 boys, against 1 in 152,445 across all states with data.

11 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Minnesota1 in 100,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys 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. Marlen has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Marlen around the world

Where Marlen 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
    2014–2025
    #5,927
    in 2025
  • France
    1986–1996
    #4,005
    in 1996
  • Norway
    1880–2022
    #436
    in 2022
  • South Australia
    1960–1963
    #644
    in 1963

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

Notable people named Marlen

People whose public names include Marlen, 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.

Marlen by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#3,625
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 704
Best rank ever
#918
2003
Peak year
2007
263 that year
First recorded
1932
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
5,512
Count in 2025
42

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#11,510
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 1,838
Best rank ever
#1,327
1938
Peak year
1938
26 that year
First recorded
1915
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
926
Count in 2025
6

Names similar to Marlen

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

MaryellenMarvelMaritaMarnieMarlieMarlynMaryjoMarielMarelyMariyaMarinMariluMarloweMaryamMariyahMaryahMarylinMartiMariannMarloMarleenMarcieMartyMargaux

Names with a curve like Marlen

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

JackelineJasmynYahairaJamiaNataliAzucenaKameronNehaJulisaElyssaJohanaKalli

Sibling names for Marlen

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 Marlen

Top names of 2007, Marlen's peak yearThe 2000s in fullOther names that peaked in 2003Girls' names starting with MGerman Names