Head to head · Girls' names
Mara vs Marigold
#587 vs #590 in 2025
Mara is a whisker ahead (#587 vs #590 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Mara is holding its place on the charts, Marigold is climbing the charts fast. On momentum, Marigold has the edge.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Mara leads 5 measures of 6; Marigold leads 1.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1890s: Mara #1278, Marigold — — Mara higher
- 1910s: Mara #2931, Marigold #4809 — Mara higher
- 1920s: Mara #2717, Marigold #4136 — Mara higher
- 1930s: Mara #2299, Marigold #4158 — Mara higher
- 1940s: Mara #1539, Marigold #3954 — Mara higher
- 1950s: Mara #812, Marigold — — Mara higher
- 1960s: Mara #731, Marigold — — Mara higher
- 1970s: Mara #632, Marigold #8358 — Mara higher
- 1980s: Mara #700, Marigold — — Mara higher
- 1990s: Mara #596, Marigold #13927 — Mara higher
- 2000s: Mara #678, Marigold #12649 — Mara higher
- 2010s: Mara #737, Marigold #4639 — Mara higher
- 2020s: Mara #590, Marigold #820 — Mara higher
Mara stood higher in every recorded decade — 13 of 13.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Mara | Marigold |
|---|---|---|
| 1890s | #1278 | — |
| 1910s | #2931 | #4809 |
| 1920s | #2717 | #4136 |
| 1930s | #2299 | #4158 |
| 1940s | #1539 | #3954 |
| 1950s | #812 | — |
| 1960s | #731 | — |
| 1970s | #632 | #8358 |
| 1980s | #700 | — |
| 1990s | #596 | #13927 |
| 2000s | #678 | #12649 |
| 2010s | #737 | #4639 |
| 2020s | #590 | #820 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Mara
Either "bitter" in Hebrew, or a short form of Maria
Two serious readings sit side by side. In Hebrew, mara/marah means bitter — in Ruth 1:20 the widowed Naomi tells the women of Bethlehem to call her Mara instead of Naomi. Quite separately, Mara is the ordinary clipped form of Marija/Maria in the South Slavic languages, Hungarian, Romanian and Italian, and there the meaning is simply whatever Maria means, itself unsettled ground. Neither road borrowed from the other; they simply arrived at the same four letters.
Miryam → Maria → Marija → Mara
How it traveled
The oldest documented appearance is scriptural: in the first chapter of the Book of Ruth, Naomi comes home to Bethlehem after burying her husband and sons and asks to be called Mara, bitter, instead of Naomi, pleasant. That verse kept the form in print through every English Bible for centuries.
Marigold
Mary's gold — the golden flower associated with the Virgin Mary
The plant was called simply golde in Old English; Mary was added in medieval England, dedicating the flower to the Virgin. As a given name, the reading people use is the flower itself.
golde (Old English name for the flower) → Mary gold (medieval English) → Marigold
How it traveled
The flower name came first: golde in Old English, lengthened to "Mary gold" by medieval English speakers who dedicated the bright calendula to the Virgin Mary. It became a name for daughters in the flower-name wave of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and L.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Mara
MAH-rah
MAH-rah is the usual American reading, with the first syllable like the start of "marble". Some families say MARR-ah, rhyming the first part with "marry", and both are established. Worth deciding early, because strangers will guess either one.
- Mara — In South Slavic, Hungarian and Romanian usage Mara is itself the nickname, standing in for a formal Marija or Maria; in American records it is the full given name.
- Mar — Informal clipping used mainly by family and close friends; not used as a given name on its own.
- Mars — An informal, playful shortening heard among younger speakers; does not appear as a standalone given name for girls.
- Marica — Croatian diminutive built on Mara, formal only in the sense that it is registered as a given name in its own right there.
Marigold
MAR-ih-gold
Stress on the first syllable. Some speakers say MARE-ih-gold; both are ordinary and neither needs correcting.
- Mari — The most common everyday shortening; also stands alone as a given name in Welsh and Japanese.
- Goldie — Informal, drawn from the second half; used as an independent name in its own right.
- Mary — Formal-sounding fallback for the first syllables, and a full given name with a much longer record.
- Gigi — Playful family nickname rather than a shortening anyone would guess from the spelling.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Mara if you want…
- a name holding steadyMara is holding its place on the charts
- a name with fewer syllablesMara is 2 syllables to Marigold's 3
Choose Marigold if you want…
- a name on the way upup 503 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itMarigold runs 3 syllables, Mara 2
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Mara
Strengths
- Short, phonetic and spelled the way it is written — most people get it right on the first try, in writing and aloud.
- The same four letters work unchanged in Croatian, Hungarian, Romanian and Italian, which makes it easy across families and borders.
- A documented record reaching back to the Book of Ruth, and unbroken use in American records for well over a century.
To consider
- Two live pronunciations, MAH-rah and MARR-ah, mean a lifetime of gentle correcting for whichever one you choose.
- It sits close to Maria, Marah, Maura, Mira and Sara, so expect the occasional misheard or mistyped version — especially over the phone.
- If the Hebrew reading matters to you, know that in Ruth the word is chosen precisely to mean bitter; many families are drawn to the passage anyway, for Naomi's honesty rather than her grief.
Marigold
Strengths
- Everyone already knows the spelling, because everyone knows the flower — no repeating letters over the phone.
- Two ready-made short forms in real use, Mari and Goldie, which sit at opposite ends of formality.
- Documented in English since the Middle Ages as a word, and in use as a given name since the flower-name era.
To consider
- It is a word before it is a name, so it will draw garden comments, jokes about marigolds in the border, and the occasional "like the flower" all her life. Word-names come with that attached.
- Three syllables and eight letters is a lot of name to write on a worksheet in kindergarten. The short forms will do real work in those years.
- Its American wave is very recent, so nearly everyone carrying it right now is a child. That means few adult namesakes to point to — and also that it does not sound borrowed from any particular decade.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Mara
40%chance Mara feels dated by 2040
Mara sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
Marigold
57%chance Marigold feels dated by 2040
Marigold is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Mara and Marigold in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Mara and Marigold?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
Free to start · no account needed · everyone you invite votes in one tap
More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
- Quiet perennials: a century old, never popular
- Star Wars names in the American record
- Flower names in full bloom
- Cottagecore names from a storybook garden
- all guides
Where Mara and Marigold each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Mara or Marigold — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Mara or Marigold?
- Mara, in 2025: Mara ranked #587 with 499 babies; Marigold ranked #590 with 498 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Mara or Marigold?
- Marigold. Over the last five years Mara moved up 39 places; Marigold moved up 503 places.
- Which is the older name, Mara or Marigold?
- Mara entered the US charts in 1892; Marigold entered the US charts in 1918. On the American record, Mara is the older name.
- How many people are named Mara and Marigold?
- About 23,000 people named Mara are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 2,900 people named Marigold are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Maras or Marigolds in the classroom?
- Mara will almost certainly be the only one in school. Marigold will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Mara, Marigold and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
Free to start · no account needed · everyone you invite votes in one tap