Girls' name · peaked in 1955

Marla name popularity since 1925

38,785 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Marla. Half of them were born in 1963 or earlier, so the typical Marla is about 63 years old in 2026. Marla peaked in 1955 as the #193 name for girls, and it was outside the top 1,000 in 2025.

US babies since 1925: 38,785; Named Marla, 1925–2025
Peak year: 1955; #193 for girls that year
Typical age: About 63; Median birth year 1963
In 2025: Not top 1,000; #2,055 for girls in 2025
Girls / boys: 99.9% girls; 38,747 girls · 38 boys
Most popular in: Kansas; 2.44× its national share

Peak year is the year Marla made up the largest share of US girls, in records going back to 1880. Typical age is based on births from 1925 on, not on who is living today.

Marla births per year, 1925–2025

1955 was the biggest year for Marla both by count and as a share of all babies.

Fastest rise: Between 1949 and 1954, Marla became 2.5× more common, from 1 in 3,740 baby girls to 1 in 1,490.
Steepest fall: Between 1973 and 1978, its share of baby girls fell by 46%, from 1 in 1,850 to 1 in 3,450.

Shaded on the chart. Both compare Marla's share of all US girls five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Marla.

Decade by decade

Babies named Marla in each decade, and its rank among girls' names in the middle year of the decade (1935, 1945 … 2025).

Decade	Girls	Boys	Rank
1925–29	55	0	–
1930s	699	0	#943
1940s	2,835	0	#476
1950s	11,441	11	#193
1960s	10,615	17	#296
1970s	6,613	5	#365
1980s	2,776	5	#729
1990s	1,616	0	#1,207
2000s	905	0	#2,101
2010s	710	0	#2,675
2020–25	482	0	#2,055

Ranks count every name given to at least 5 girls that year, so they can go past 1,000.

Generation fingerprint

48.0% of babies named Marla from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Baby Boom years (1946–1964). The full split by generation:

Where Marla is most popular

The index compares Marla's share of babies in each state with its share nationwide, 1925–2025 (1.50× = 50% more common). States with at least 300 babies named Marla.

State	Index	Babies
Kansas	2.44×	882
Iowa	2.24×	1,008
Indiana	1.97×	1,652
Nebraska	1.86×	462
Illinois	1.73×	2,986

Names with a similar story

Of the other 1999 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Marla's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Marla.

Names from the same era

Other common names that peaked within two years of Marla (1955).

Source: U.S. Social Security Administration national and state baby-name data, which covers names given to at least 5 babies of one sex in a year. About the data