Girls' name · peaked in 2008
Marlee name popularity since 1925
17,918 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Marlee (98.5% girls, 1.5% boys). Half of them were born in 2012 or earlier, so the typical Marlee is about 14 years old in 2026. Marlee peaked in 2008 as the #367 name for girls, and it ranked #536 in 2025.
Key facts
- US babies since 1925
- 17,918
- Named Marlee, 1925–2025
- In 2025
- #536
- for girls in 2025 (564 babies)
- Girls / boys
- 98.5% girls
- 17,649 girls · 269 boys
- Most popular in
- Utah
- 2.76× its national share
Peak year is the year Marlee 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.
Marlee births per year, 1925–2025
2008 was the biggest year for Marlee both by count and as a share of all babies.
- Fastest rise: Between 2003 and 2008, Marlee became 3× more common, from 1 in 6,460 baby girls to 1 in 2,120.
Shaded on the chart. This compares Marlee's share of all US girls five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Marlee.
Decade by decade
Babies named Marlee 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 | 0 | 0 | – |
| 1930s | 94 | 0 | Under 5 |
| 1940s | 158 | 0 | #1,921 |
| 1950s | 194 | 0 | #3,321 |
| 1960s | 166 | 0 | #3,871 |
| 1970s | 180 | 0 | #3,588 |
| 1980s | 473 | 0 | #2,523 |
| 1990s | 2,064 | 0 | #1,014 |
| 2000s | 4,018 | 39 | #785 |
| 2010s | 6,431 | 146 | #455 |
| 2020–25 | 3,871 | 84 | #536 |
Ranks count every name given to at least 5 girls that year, so they can go past 1,000. "Under 5" means fewer than 5 girls got the name.
Generation fingerprint
49.1% of babies named Marlee from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Gen Alpha years (2013–2025). The full split by generation:
Where Marlee is most popular
The index compares Marlee'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 Marlee.
| State | Index | Babies |
|---|---|---|
| Utah | 2.76× | 359 |
| Mississippi | 2.07× | 383 |
| Tennessee | 2.07× | 667 |
| Georgia | 2.04× | 861 |
| Alabama | 1.96× | 529 |
Other spellings
Spellings that sound like Marlee and were given to at least 1,000 girls from 1925 to 2025, with the year each one was most popular.
| Spelling | Girls | Peak year |
|---|---|---|
| Marlee (this page) | 17,649 | 2008 |
| Marley | 33,045 | 2008 |
| Marlie | 4,542 | 2009 |
| Marli | 2,841 | 2008 |
| Marly | 1,660 | 2008 |
Names with a similar story
Of the other 1999 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Marlee's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Marlee.
Names from the same era
Other common names that peaked within two years of Marlee (2008).
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