Head to head · Girls' names
Marisol vs Paislee
#666 vs #666 in 2025
Marisol and Paislee share the same spot on the 2025 charts (#666). 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, Marisol leads 4 measures of 6; Paislee leads 0.
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
- 1950s: Marisol #3999, Paislee — — Marisol higher
- 1960s: Marisol #947, Paislee — — Marisol higher
- 1970s: Marisol #361, Paislee — — Marisol higher
- 1980s: Marisol #408, Paislee — — Marisol higher
- 1990s: Marisol #362, Paislee #13145 — Marisol higher
- 2000s: Marisol #397, Paislee #5965 — Marisol higher
- 2010s: Marisol #816, Paislee #566 — Paislee higher
- 2020s: Marisol #810, Paislee #527 — Paislee higher
Marisol stood higher in 6 of 8 decades; Paislee has held the lead since the 2010s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Marisol | Paislee |
|---|---|---|
| 1950s | #3999 | — |
| 1960s | #947 | — |
| 1970s | #361 | — |
| 1980s | #408 | — |
| 1990s | #362 | #13145 |
| 2000s | #397 | #5965 |
| 2010s | #816 | #566 |
| 2020s | #810 | #527 |
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
Marisol
From María Soledad, 'Mary of Solitude'; also widely read as mar y sol, 'sea and sun'
The documented formation is a contraction of the compound Marian name María Soledad, after Nuestra Señora de la Soledad — Our Lady of Solitude — a devotion strong in Spain and in Mexico. Alongside that, Spanish speakers have long heard the name as mar y sol, 'sea and sun', because both words sit plainly inside it. The first is the origin; the second is a real and living reading rather than a mistake, and most families who use the name know both.
Miryam → María → María Soledad → Marisol
How it traveled
Spanish has a long practice of compressing compound Marian names into single everyday ones: María Isabel becomes Maribel, María del Carmen becomes Maricarmen, and María Soledad becomes Marisol. Soledad honors Our Lady of Solitude, venerated in Spain and, especially, in Mexico, where the devotion has its own basilica in Oaxaca.
Paislee
From Paisley, a town in Renfrewshire, Scotland
Scholars of Scottish place names divide over the town's own origin. One reading traces it to Latin basilica, 'church', reaching Scots through Middle Irish baslec — the town grew around a medieval abbey. Another looks to a Brittonic word for pasture. The name reached children by way of the place and the surname, not by way of a word for a person.
Paisley (Scottish place name) → Paisley (surname) → Paisley (given name) → Paislee
How it traveled
Paisley began as a place, grew into a Scottish surname carried out to Ulster and North America, and only lately became a first name for girls in the United States. Its worldwide fame came from cloth: the Paisley mills of Renfrewshire mass-produced shawls in the nineteenth century bearing the curved boteh motif of Kashmir and Persia, and the pattern took the town's name permanently.
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
Marisol
mah-ree-SOHL
Spanish puts the stress on the last syllable, and that is the pronunciation most bearers use. In English you will also hear MAR-ih-sohl, with the weight up front. Both are in real circulation, so it is worth deciding early which one you will correct people toward.
- Mari — The most common everyday short form; also used on its own for other María compounds.
- Sol — Takes the second half instead of the first, and stands alone as a Spanish given name.
- Soli — Informal, family-level; drawn from the Soledad half of the name.
- Marisolita — Spanish affectionate diminutive, used within families rather than in public.
Paislee
PAYZ-lee
Two syllables, stress on the first, with a z sound in the middle. The respelled ending changes nothing about how it is said — it sounds the same as Paisley.
- Pais — The most natural clipping, informal and household-level; rarely written down.
- Paise — Same clip with a softer spelling; used in speech more than on paper.
- Lee — Taken from the ending; stands alone as a given name in its own right for both men and women.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Marisol if you want…
- a name on the way upup 311 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itMarisol runs 3 syllables, Paislee 2
Choose Paislee if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsPaislee is stepping back from its peak
- a name with fewer syllablesPaislee is 2 syllables to Marisol'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
Marisol
Strengths
- Spelled the way it sounds in both Spanish and English — no silent letters, no competing variant spellings to keep explaining.
- Reads naturally in Spanish and in English, which matters in bilingual families and across borders.
- Two ready-made short forms that come from opposite ends of the name: Mari and Sol.
To consider
- The stress moves between languages — mah-ree-SOHL in Spanish, MAR-ih-sohl in many English mouths. Expect to hear both, sometimes from the same person twice.
- The documented root, Soledad, means 'solitude', and comes from a devotion to Mary in mourning. Nothing somber clings to the name in use, but it is worth knowing before someone tells you.
- Mari, the likeliest short form, gets heard as Mary or Maria and may need repeating.
Paislee
Strengths
- Sound-transparent: almost anyone who sees it says it right on the first try, which is not true of every modern respelling.
- The -lee ending is already familiar to American ears through Bailee, Kaylee and Hadlee, so the shape needs no explaining.
- Anchored in something real and traceable — a Scottish town, an abbey, and the woven pattern that still carries the name worldwide.
To consider
- This is the less common of the two spellings, so expect a lifetime of gentle corrections to Paisley — on registers, coffee cups and forms. Spelling it aloud becomes a habit early.
- Respelled -lee endings are strongly tied to a recent stretch of American naming, and the chart shows it stepping back from its high point. The name will read as belonging to a particular era.
- The paisley pattern is a well-known fabric print, so some people will hear the cloth before they hear the name. That association is decorative rather than unkind, and it fades quickly with a person attached to 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 Marisol and Paislee in full.
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Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
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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
- Summer names full of light
- Spanish and Latin names with warmth
- Latin American and Caribbean names
- all guides
Where Marisol and Paislee each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Marisol or Paislee — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Marisol or Paislee?
- They tie in 2025: Marisol ranked #666 with 423 babies; Paislee ranked #666 with 423 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Marisol or Paislee?
- Marisol. Over the last five years Marisol moved up 311 places; Paislee moved down 287 places.
- Which is the older name, Marisol or Paislee?
- Marisol entered the US charts in 1953; Paislee entered the US charts in 1990. On the American record, Marisol is the older name.
- How many people are named Marisol and Paislee?
- About 34,000 people named Marisol are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 11,000 people named Paislee are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Marisols or Paislees in the classroom?
- Marisol will almost certainly be the only one in school. Paislee 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
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