Head to head · Girls' names
Marigold vs Meilani
#590 vs #590 in 2025 · both climbing the charts fast
Marigold and Meilani share the same spot on the 2025 charts (#590). The records cannot split them; sound and story will.
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, Marigold leads 2 measures of 6; Meilani 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
- 1910s: Marigold #4809, Meilani — — Marigold higher
- 1920s: Marigold #4136, Meilani — — Marigold higher
- 1930s: Marigold #4158, Meilani — — Marigold higher
- 1940s: Marigold #3954, Meilani — — Marigold higher
- 1970s: Marigold #8358, Meilani — — Marigold higher
- 1980s: Marigold —, Meilani #7757 — Meilani higher
- 1990s: Marigold #13927, Meilani #8482 — Meilani higher
- 2000s: Marigold #12649, Meilani #5807 — Meilani higher
- 2010s: Marigold #4639, Meilani #3066 — Meilani higher
- 2020s: Marigold #820, Meilani #863 — Marigold higher
Marigold stood higher in 6 of 10 decades; Marigold took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Marigold | Meilani |
|---|---|---|
| 1910s | #4809 | — |
| 1920s | #4136 | — |
| 1930s | #4158 | — |
| 1940s | #3954 | — |
| 1970s | #8358 | — |
| 1980s | — | #7757 |
| 1990s | #13927 | #8482 |
| 2000s | #12649 | #5807 |
| 2010s | #4639 | #3066 |
| 2020s | #820 | #863 |
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
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.
Meilani
Second element: Hawaiian lani, "heaven, sky, royal"; the first element is read more than one way
The -lani half is not in doubt. The Mei- half is read two ways: as Hawaiian mei, and as Chinese 美 (měi), "beautiful" — a reading that fits families where the two languages meet. A third possibility is simpler still: Meilani as a reshaping of Leilani, or a meeting of Melanie with the -lani names. No one of these has been established over the others.
How it traveled
The name's second half is genuinely and demonstrably Hawaiian: lani, meaning heaven, sky, or that which is royal and exalted, one of the most productive elements in the Hawaiian naming tradition. Names carrying it — Leilani above all — traveled from the islands into mainland American use across the twentieth century, and once a pattern is familiar, new names grow on it.
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
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.
Meilani
may-LAH-nee
Both the Hawaiian and Mandarin readings of the first syllable land close to "may". Some families say mye-LAH-nee. Stress sits on the second syllable either way.
- Lani — The most common short form, and a given name in its own right in American records.
- Mei — Used by families who read the first syllable as the Chinese element; also a standalone given name.
- Mei-Mei — Informal, household use, mostly for small children.
- Lanie — Informal English-style spelling of the short form.
- Also Mel.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Marigold if you want…
- a name on the way upup 503 places on the charts in five years
Choose Meilani if you want…
On the measures here, the records do not separate Meilani from Marigold.
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
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.
Meilani
Strengths
- The -lani ending is already familiar from Leilani, so most English speakers place the name and its rhythm on first hearing.
- It reads as it sounds for English speakers: three syllables, no silent letters, no competing pronunciations to explain.
- Two ready short forms that already stand alone as names in their own right: Lani and Mei.
To consider
- It will be heard as Leilani, and written as Melani, Meilany or Melanie, more often than you would like. A short spelling-out becomes routine.
- The meaning is genuinely unsettled in its first half. If you want a name whose translation you can state in one line, this one asks you to pick a reading and know it is a choice.
- Meilani is a recent coinage on a Hawaiian pattern rather than a traditional Hawaiian name. That matters to some families with island ties, and is worth knowing before someone else mentions it.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
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 Marigold and Meilani 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 Marigold and Meilani?
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.
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More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
- Flower names in full bloom
- Cottagecore names from a storybook garden
- Spring names, fresh from the thaw
- Autumn names in amber and gold
- all guides
Where Marigold and Meilani each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Marigold or Meilani — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Marigold or Meilani?
- They tie in 2025: Marigold ranked #590 with 498 babies; Meilani ranked #590 with 498 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Marigold or Meilani?
- Marigold. Over the last five years Marigold moved up 503 places; Meilani moved up 299 places.
- Which is the older name, Marigold or Meilani?
- Marigold entered the US charts in 1918; Meilani entered the US charts in 1982. On the American record, Marigold is the older name.
- How many people are named Marigold and Meilani?
- About 2,900 people named Marigold are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 3,900 people named Meilani are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Marigolds or Meilanis in the classroom?
- Marigold will almost certainly be the only one in school. Meilani 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
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