Head to head · Girls' names
Marlee vs Zahra
#536 vs #538 in 2025
Marlee is a whisker ahead (#536 vs #538 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Marlee is stepping back from its peak, Zahra is holding its place on the charts. On momentum, Zahra 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, Marlee leads 5 measures of 6; Zahra 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: Marlee #4274, Zahra — — Marlee higher
- 1930s: Marlee #2961, Zahra — — Marlee higher
- 1940s: Marlee #2403, Zahra — — Marlee higher
- 1950s: Marlee #2527, Zahra — — Marlee higher
- 1960s: Marlee #3211, Zahra — — Marlee higher
- 1970s: Marlee #3840, Zahra #4408 — Marlee higher
- 1980s: Marlee #3491, Zahra #2950 — Zahra higher
- 1990s: Marlee #961, Zahra #2146 — Marlee higher
- 2000s: Marlee #762, Zahra #1427 — Marlee higher
- 2010s: Marlee #483, Zahra #809 — Marlee higher
- 2020s: Marlee #481, Zahra #589 — Marlee higher
Marlee stood higher in 10 of 11 decades; Marlee has held the lead since the 1990s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Marlee | Zahra |
|---|---|---|
| 1910s | #4274 | — |
| 1930s | #2961 | — |
| 1940s | #2403 | — |
| 1950s | #2527 | — |
| 1960s | #3211 | — |
| 1970s | #3840 | #4408 |
| 1980s | #3491 | #2950 |
| 1990s | #961 | #2146 |
| 2000s | #762 | #1427 |
| 2010s | #483 | #809 |
| 2020s | #481 | #589 |
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
Marlee
clearing or meadow — with the first syllable read either as 'boundary' or 'marten'
As a respelling of the English surname Marley, the second element is Old English lēah, 'clearing, meadow, wood', which is settled. The first is not: place-name scholars read it as either gemǣre, 'boundary', or mearth, 'marten'. A separate route reaches the same sound through Marlene, itself a German blend of Maria and Magdalene, which gave English Marla and Marlee as well.
lēah (Old English: clearing, meadow) → Marley (English place name, then surname) → Marlee
How it traveled
The Marley line begins in English geography — villages and estates named for a clearing, recorded in Old English as lēah, with a first element that meant either a boundary or the marten that lived in the wood. Those place names became surnames, surnames crossed to America, and by the twentieth century American parents were turning them into first names for daughters, respelled to match the way they were already saying them: Marley became Marlee.
Zahra
radiant, shining — or flower, blossom
Both readings are genuine and both come from the same Arabic root z-h-r, which turns on brightness. زهراء (zahrāʾ) means bright, radiant, luminous; زهرة (zahra) means flower or blossom. Arabic keeps the two words apart by vowel length; the English spelling Zahra flattens them into one, so a family can honestly claim either.
Arabic root z-h-r (to shine, to blossom) → zahrāʾ / al-Zahrāʾ → Zahra → Zehra
How it traveled
The name belongs to the Arabic root z-h-r, which produces words for shining and for flowering — a connection Arabic makes easily and English does not. Its best-documented use is as a title: Fāṭima al-Zahrāʾ, "Fatima the Radiant," the Prophet Muhammad's daughter, revered across the Muslim world and especially central in Shia devotion, which is why Zahra has been given as a name in its own right for many centuries.
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
Marlee
MAR-lee
Two syllables, stress on the first. The spelling gives the pronunciation away completely, which is most of the point of the -lee ending.
- Mar — The most direct shortening, used within families rather than in writing.
- Marls — Informal, friend-to-friend; the same -s pattern that gives Charls and Bexs.
- Lee — Takes the second half instead of the first, and stands alone as a given name for both men and women.
- Marlee-Bee — A playful home nickname built on the final syllable; not used outside the family.
Zahra
ZAH-ruh
Stress on the first syllable. In Arabic and Persian the middle h is sounded distinctly — closer to ZAH-hrah — and many families keep that in English. The Turkish and Bosnian form Zehra is said ZEH-rah.
- Zaza — Informal, family-level; also used independently as a short form of other Z- names.
- Zee — Informal English-language shortening, common among school friends and colleagues.
- Zahi — Occasional affectionate form; Zahra is short enough that many families never shorten it at all.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Marlee if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsMarlee is stepping back from its peak
Choose Zahra if you want…
- a name on the way upup 53 places on the charts in five years
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
Marlee
Strengths
- Spelled the way it sounds: a reader who has never seen it will still say it correctly on the first try.
- Sits inside a large, familiar sound family — Marley, Harley, Hailey, Marlene — so it registers as a known name rather than a new one.
- On US records continuously for over a century, so it has history behind it as well as recent use.
To consider
- Marlee, Marley and Marleigh all sound identical, so expect to spell it aloud fairly often — and expect forms and class lists to guess wrong now and then.
- The Marley sound carries strong outside associations for many American ears, from the musician's surname to the dog in a well-known book and film. Nothing damaging, but the connection tends to come up.
- The -lee ending rose as a group and is easing back as a group, which can date a name to a stretch of years. That is only a drawback if you mind it; plenty of names carry a decade with them and wear it well.
Zahra
Strengths
- Two syllables, five letters, stress where an English speaker will naturally put it — easy to say correctly on the first try.
- Spoken and recognized across Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Bosnian, Urdu and Swahili-speaking communities, so it travels without translation.
- A documented record stretching back to the seventh century as the epithet al-Zahrāʾ, which few names can match for continuity.
To consider
- The middle h is the weak point. Expect Zara, Zahara and Zara-with-an-h-somewhere-else on forms and coffee cups, and expect to correct it politely for a long time.
- Zara is also a very widely known clothing brand, so some people will hear that first and need a beat to catch the h.
- The link to Fatima al-Zahrāʾ carries real religious weight, particularly for Shia Muslim families. Worth knowing you are stepping into that association, whether or not it is yours.
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 Marlee and Zahra 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 Marlee and Zahra?
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
Where Marlee and Zahra each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Marlee or Zahra — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Marlee or Zahra?
- Marlee, in 2025: Marlee ranked #536 with 564 babies; Zahra ranked #538 with 562 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Marlee or Zahra?
- Zahra. Over the last five years Marlee moved down 106 places; Zahra moved up 53 places.
- Which is the older name, Marlee or Zahra?
- Marlee entered the US charts in 1915; Zahra entered the US charts in 1973. On the American record, Marlee is the older name.
- How many people are named Marlee and Zahra?
- About 17,500 people named Marlee are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 9,300 people named Zahra are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Marlees or Zahras in the classroom?
- Marlee will almost certainly be the only one in school. Zahra 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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