Head to head · Girls' names
Marley vs Mira
#322 vs #335 in 2025
Marley is a whisker ahead (#322 vs #335 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Marley is stepping back from its peak, Mira is climbing the charts fast. On momentum, Mira 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, Marley leads 4 measures of 6; Mira leads 2.
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
- 1880s: Marley —, Mira #1190 — Mira higher
- 1890s: Marley —, Mira #1166 — Mira higher
- 1900s: Marley —, Mira #1400 — Mira higher
- 1910s: Marley —, Mira #2619 — Mira higher
- 1920s: Marley —, Mira #3187 — Mira higher
- 1930s: Marley #3824, Mira #2824 — Mira higher
- 1940s: Marley #4632, Mira #2403 — Mira higher
- 1950s: Marley #4990, Mira #1798 — Mira higher
- 1960s: Marley #5744, Mira #2074 — Mira higher
- 1970s: Marley #4985, Mira #2216 — Mira higher
- 1980s: Marley #2663, Mira #2341 — Mira higher
- 1990s: Marley #1019, Mira #1974 — Marley higher
- 2000s: Marley #458, Mira #960 — Marley higher
- 2010s: Marley #226, Mira #607 — Marley higher
- 2020s: Marley #266, Mira #428 — Marley higher
Mira stood higher in 11 of 15 decades; Marley has held the lead since the 1990s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Marley | Mira |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | — | #1190 |
| 1890s | — | #1166 |
| 1900s | — | #1400 |
| 1910s | — | #2619 |
| 1920s | — | #3187 |
| 1930s | #3824 | #2824 |
| 1940s | #4632 | #2403 |
| 1950s | #4990 | #1798 |
| 1960s | #5744 | #2074 |
| 1970s | #4985 | #2216 |
| 1980s | #2663 | #2341 |
| 1990s | #1019 | #1974 |
| 2000s | #458 | #960 |
| 2010s | #226 | #607 |
| 2020s | #266 | #428 |
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
Marley
'clearing' or 'woodland meadow', with a disputed first element
The second half is not in doubt: Old English lēah, a clearing or woodland glade, sits at the end of hundreds of English place names. The first half differs by village — readings include gemǣre, 'boundary', and mearþ, 'marten', giving 'boundary clearing' or 'marten wood'. Several separate places named Marley fed the same surname, so more than one origin is genuinely in play.
lēah (Old English: woodland clearing) → Marley (English place name, Kent, Devon and Yorkshire) → Marley (English surname) → Marley (given name)
How it traveled
English place names came first, then the surname formed from them in the ordinary medieval way — a family known by where they had lived. It stayed a surname for centuries, familiar enough to English readers that Dickens could hang a ghost on it in A Christmas Carol in 1843, and later carried worldwide by the Jamaican musician Bob Marley.
Mira
'Wonderful' in Latin; 'peace' or 'world' in Slavic; also a Sanskrit name
Several separate names have arrived at this spelling. The Latin root is mirus, 'wonderful, astonishing' — the source of the star name Mira. In Slavic languages Mira comes from mir, 'peace' or 'world', and works as a short form of Miroslava and Mirjana. In India, Mīrā (also written Meera) is a Sanskrit name most associated with the poet Mirabai. In Albanian it connects to mirë, 'good'. None of these cancels the others out.
How it traveled
There is no single road into this name. In the Slavic-speaking world Mira has served for generations as both a full name and the everyday form of Miroslava, Mirjana and Vladimira, built on mir, 'peace'.
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
Marley
MAR-lee
Stress on the first syllable. Nearly always said the same way on both sides of the Atlantic; the only real friction is spelling, not sound.
- Mar — The simplest clip, used at home more than in writing.
- Marls — Informal, friend-to-friend; common among younger speakers.
- Lee — Takes the back half instead of the front, and stands on its own as a given name for both men and women.
- Mars — A playful stretch of the first syllable, strictly informal.
Mira
MEER-ah
MEER-ah is the most common American reading. Some families say MY-rah, on the pattern of Myra, and Slavic speakers use a shorter first vowel, closer to MIH-rah. All three are legitimate; it helps to pick one early and say it first when introducing her.
- Mimi — The usual affectionate form in English-speaking families; also stands alone as a given name.
- Mira — Works the other way round too — Mira is itself the established short form of Miriam, Mirabel, Amira and Miroslava, and many bearers of those names answer to it.
- Mirka — A Czech, Slovak and Polish diminutive, informal and used mainly within families.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Marley if you want…
- a name most people already know#322 in 2025, 950 babies that year
- a name past its most crowded yearsMarley is stepping back from its peak
Choose Mira if you want…
- a name fewer children share#335 in 2025 — mira will almost certainly be the only one in school
- a name on the way upup 148 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
Marley
Strengths
- The pronunciation is obvious on sight — nobody hesitates over it, in English or in most other languages.
- A spelling the world already knows from a famous surname, so it is rarely questioned as a name.
- Works unchanged for a boy or a girl, with no separate masculine or feminine form to choose between.
To consider
- Marlee, Marleigh and Marly all exist and all sound identical, so expect to spell it aloud fairly often — this is the mild, lifelong kind of nuisance rather than a real problem.
- Bob Marley is the first association for many people, which some parents want and others do not. It reads as homage on a child whose family has a connection, and as coincidence otherwise.
- The dog in Marley & Me left a mark, and a few people will mention it. It fades quickly once there is an actual child attached to the name.
Mira
Strengths
- Short, phonetic and already familiar in Slavic, South Asian, Hebrew, Arabic and Romance-speaking families — it crosses borders without needing to be respelled.
- Two syllables and five letters: easy to write early, and no nickname is required for it to work.
- Comes with a ready-made affectionate form in Mimi, and doubles as the short form of Miriam, Amira and Mirabel if a longer legal name appeals.
To consider
- The MEER-ah / MY-rah split is real, and she will be asked which one she is. Neither is wrong, which is exactly why the question keeps coming up.
- It sits in a crowded sound-field with Mila, Maya, Mia, Myra and Nora — expect occasional mishearing and the wrong name called across a playground.
- In Spanish, mira is the everyday imperative 'look', so in Spanish-speaking settings the name doubles as a common word. Familiar rather than odd, but worth knowing.
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 Marley and Mira 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 Marley and Mira?
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 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 that carry both names
Every list here names both Marley and Mira — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Marley or Mira — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Marley or Mira?
- Marley, in 2025: Marley ranked #322 with 950 babies; Mira ranked #335 with 916 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Marley or Mira?
- Mira. Over the last five years Marley moved down 111 places; Mira moved up 148 places.
- Which is the older name, Marley or Mira?
- Marley entered the US charts in 1937; Mira entered the US charts in 1887. On the American record, Mira is the older name.
- How many people are named Marley and Mira?
- About 33,000 people named Marley are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 14,500 people named Mira are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Marleys or Miras in the classroom?
- Marley will almost certainly be the only one in school. Mira 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 Marley, Mira and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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