Marylou

#4,834 in 2025Girls' name

Combination of Mary and Lou

Marylou has been given to 13,112 babies in the U.S. since 1898. In 2025 it ranked #4,834 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1942, with 376 recorded.

Babies named Marylou, 2025

1 in 118,000

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Marylou: meaning, origin, and history

Combination of Mary and Lou

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Marylou means

Marylou is a variant of Mary Lou.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Marylou is used in English.

Another recorded pronunciation is /mɛɹ.i.ˈlu/ for Marylou.

The naming story behind Marylou

The reference identifies Marylou as a combination of Mary and Lou. This is a documented two-name formation.

The histories of Mary and Lou belong to their separate source entries. The source does not identify every bearer’s family motivation.

Origin, language, and formation

Marylou is used in English and French.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Mary, Lou and Mary Lou.

Pronunciation and spelling

In French, Marylou is pronounced /ma.ʁi.lu/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 13,112 girls were recorded with the name Marylou between 1898 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 376 in 1942; its best national rank was #350 in 1937.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #5,594 in 2020 to #4,834 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #5,404 in 2015 to #4,834 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 Marylou?

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

Among all babies, 2025: 1 in 118,000; 28 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only: 1 in 57,400; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025: #4,834; of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size: 82,069 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Marylou 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 82,069 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Marylou. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Marylous were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Marylou was born before 1947 — so the typical Marylou is around 78 today.

Median birth year: 1947; About 78 years old
Biggest decade: 1940s; 24.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 4.3%; Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950: 5,720; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1940s — 24.0% of all recorded uses (3,141).

Is Marylou 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: +760; Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago: +570; Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago: 1.12×; More babies than then
Share of its own peak: 7.4%; Peak was 1942 (376)
Years since peak: 83; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 35.2% average annual change
Best rank ever: #350; 1937

Spellings of Marylou

Marylou is the most-used spelling, taking 26.3% of the 49,795 babies given a near-identical spelling.

Marylou26.3%13,112
Marlo14.6%7,264
Maryjo14.3%7,109
Marylin8.8%4,379
Marylee6.8%3,385
Marylyn6.7%3,336
Marilou6.5%3,231
Marilu4.6%2,279

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 Marylou is used

Across 1910–2025, Marylou was most concentrated in New Mexico — about 1 in 4,762 girls, against 1 in 13,372 across all states with data. It was least common in Oregon (1 in —).

021 per 100,000

State popularity map

Most concentrated

1New Mexico1 in 4,762
2Connecticut1 in 5,000
3New Jersey1 in 6,667
4New York1 in 7,143
5Minnesota1 in 8,333
6Pennsylvania1 in 8,333
7Massachusetts1 in 9,091
8Michigan1 in 10,000

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

Marylou around the world

Where Marylou 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
1997–2025
#4,867
in 2025
France
1953–2025
#793
in 2025
Canada
1991–2024
#1,615
in 2024
South Australia
1946–1994
#716
in 1994

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

Marylou in other languages

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

MarilouMary Lou

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

Marylou by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025: #4,834
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: Up 760
Best rank ever: #350; 1937
Peak year: 1942; 376 that year
First recorded: 1898
Last recorded: 2025
All-time count: 13,112
Count in 2025: 28

Names similar to Marylou

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

Marilou Mariela Maranda Marlena Margery Margret Martina Marcela Marjory Marilee Maritza Mariann Maribel Mariyah Maricela Marilynn Maryam Maryanne Maryjane Marietta Marcie Marisol Marisela Marybeth

Names with a curve like Marylou

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

Earlene Beverley Marilynn Jerry Arleen Earnestine Darleen Carlene Marva Edwina Lavonne Gerry

Sibling names for Marylou

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

Sammie Georgianna Ruthann Roseann Arleen Freddie Carolynn Elida

For a brother

Errol Jerald Denny Galen Sammie Fredric Gale Guadalupe

Explore around Marylou

Top names of 1942, Marylou's peak year The 1940s in full Other names that peaked in 1937 Girls' names starting with M