Head to head · Girls' names
Marigold vs Paris
#590 vs #592 in 2025
Marigold is a whisker ahead (#590 vs #592 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Marigold is climbing the charts fast, Paris is stepping back from its peak.
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
The tape is even: Marigold and Paris each lead 3 measures of 6.
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, Paris #3555 — Paris higher
- 1920s: Marigold #4136, Paris #4003 — Paris higher
- 1930s: Marigold #4158, Paris #3772 — Paris higher
- 1940s: Marigold #3954, Paris #3570 — Paris higher
- 1950s: Marigold —, Paris #2629 — Paris higher
- 1960s: Marigold —, Paris #1481 — Paris higher
- 1970s: Marigold #8358, Paris #1863 — Paris higher
- 1980s: Marigold —, Paris #989 — Paris higher
- 1990s: Marigold #13927, Paris #490 — Paris higher
- 2000s: Marigold #12649, Paris #359 — Paris higher
- 2010s: Marigold #4639, Paris #297 — Paris higher
- 2020s: Marigold #820, Paris #486 — Paris higher
Paris stood higher in every recorded decade — 12 of 12.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Marigold | Paris |
|---|---|---|
| 1910s | #4809 | #3555 |
| 1920s | #4136 | #4003 |
| 1930s | #4158 | #3772 |
| 1940s | #3954 | #3570 |
| 1950s | — | #2629 |
| 1960s | — | #1481 |
| 1970s | #8358 | #1863 |
| 1980s | — | #989 |
| 1990s | #13927 | #490 |
| 2000s | #12649 | #359 |
| 2010s | #4639 | #297 |
| 2020s | #820 | #486 |
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.
Paris
Not established
Nobody has settled a meaning for this one, and both of its roads end the same way. The city is named for the Parisii, a Gaulish people whose own tribal name has never been convincingly translated — the Roman town on that site was called Lutetia first. The Trojan prince's name in Greek, Πάρις, is older than Greek itself and resists translation too. What the record gives is ownership and place, not a definition.
Parisii (Gaulish people) → Latin Parisius → Old French Paris → English Paris
How it traveled
The oldest Paris is the Trojan prince of Homer's Iliad, and the name traveled into medieval Europe with him — it appears on English records in the Middle Ages as a man's name and hardened into a surname. The city carries a separate history: a Roman settlement called Lutetia in the territory of the Parisii, which in late Roman and early medieval usage came to be called by the tribe's name instead.
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.
Paris
PAIR-iss
PAIR-iss throughout the English-speaking world, stress on the first syllable. The French pronounce the city's name pa-REE, and some families enjoy that version; both are understood, but the English form is what a US classroom will default to.
- Pari — Informal, mostly family use; also stands alone as a given name in Persian.
- P — Initial-only, informal — the kind of thing friends and teammates land on.
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
- a name with more sound in itMarigold runs 3 syllables, Paris 2
- plenty of nickname options4 recorded short forms — Mari, Goldie and Mary
Choose Paris if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsParis is stepping back from its peak
- a name with fewer syllablesParis is 2 syllables to Marigold's 3
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.
Paris
Strengths
- Spelled the way everyone already spells it — one of the few names you almost never have to repeat, clarify or correct.
- Recognized in nearly every language on earth, which travels well across borders and family lines.
- Two clean syllables with the stress up front; sits easily beside long surnames and short ones alike.
To consider
- It is inseparable from the city. Expect a lifetime of remarks about the Eiffel Tower, croissants and whether she's been — friendly, mostly, but constant.
- The name's rise and its current easing back both track a very visible American celebrity of the early 2000s. For people who remember that era, the association is still the first one they reach for.
- In Homer, Paris is a man — the prince who left with Helen and helped start the war. In the US the spelling reads as a girl's name without confusion, but the classical figure is a mixed literary godparent.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
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.
Paris
40%chance Paris feels dated by 2040
Paris 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.
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 Marigold and Paris 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 Paris?
Put both to the vote.
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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 Paris each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Marigold or Paris — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Marigold or Paris?
- Marigold, in 2025: Marigold ranked #590 with 498 babies; Paris ranked #592 with 497 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Marigold or Paris?
- Marigold. Over the last five years Marigold moved up 503 places; Paris moved down 176 places.
- Which is the older name, Marigold or Paris?
- Marigold entered the US charts in 1918; Paris entered the US charts in 1917. On the American record, Paris is the older name.
- How many people are named Marigold and Paris?
- About 2,900 people named Marigold are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 33,000 people named Paris are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Marigolds or Pariss in the classroom?
- Marigold will almost certainly be the only one in school. Paris 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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