Head to head · Girls' names
Marley vs Morgan
#322 vs #312 in 2025 · both stepping back from its peak
Morgan is a whisker ahead (#312 vs #322 in 2025) and both are stepping back from its peak. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name 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, Morgan leads 5 measures of 6; Marley 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
- 1910s: Marley —, Morgan #4809 — Morgan higher
- 1930s: Marley #3824, Morgan #4255 — Marley higher
- 1940s: Marley #4632, Morgan #4111 — Morgan higher
- 1950s: Marley #4990, Morgan #3563 — Morgan higher
- 1960s: Marley #5744, Morgan #2124 — Morgan higher
- 1970s: Marley #4985, Morgan #1044 — Morgan higher
- 1980s: Marley #2663, Morgan #136 — Morgan higher
- 1990s: Marley #1019, Morgan #32 — Morgan higher
- 2000s: Marley #458, Morgan #36 — Morgan higher
- 2010s: Marley #226, Morgan #117 — Morgan higher
- 2020s: Marley #266, Morgan #241 — Morgan higher
Morgan stood higher in 10 of 11 decades; Morgan has held the lead since the 1940s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Marley | Morgan |
|---|---|---|
| 1910s | — | #4809 |
| 1930s | #3824 | #4255 |
| 1940s | #4632 | #4111 |
| 1950s | #4990 | #3563 |
| 1960s | #5744 | #2124 |
| 1970s | #4985 | #1044 |
| 1980s | #2663 | #136 |
| 1990s | #1019 | #32 |
| 2000s | #458 | #36 |
| 2010s | #226 | #117 |
| 2020s | #266 | #241 |
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.
Morgan
from Welsh mor, "sea" — the second element is disputed
The first part is agreed: mor, "sea." The second is not. Old Welsh Morcant is usually read as mor plus cant, "circle" or "completion," giving the popular gloss "sea-circle"; others read the ending as "bright" or connect it to the widespread "born of the sea." The sea is solid ground here; what surrounds it is not.
Morcant → Morgan → Morgane → Morgana
How it traveled
The name begins as Old Welsh Morcant, which turns up in early medieval British records and passed into Welsh as Morgan, borne by men and later carried as one of the great Welsh surnames. Breton and French tradition took the Arthurian figure and made a feminine form, Morgane, which is why the name has two settled genders in Europe rather than one.
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.
Morgan
MOR-gan
Stress on the first syllable, the second reduced to an unstressed -gan. Welsh speakers say it much the same way, with a tapped r. The French Morgane adds a final syllable: mor-GAN.
- Mo — The most common short form, informal; also serves as a nickname for several unrelated names, so it rarely points back to Morgan on its own.
- Morgs — Casual, friend-group register rather than family use.
- Morgie — Chiefly used with small children and inside families.
- Mory — Occasional affectionate form; sometimes spelled Morrie.
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 fewer children share#322 in 2025 — marley will almost certainly be the only one in school
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 40% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 81% for Morgan
Choose Morgan if you want…
- a name most people already know#312 in 2025, 977 babies that year
- a name that feels very nowMorgan is stepping back from its peak
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.
Morgan
Strengths
- One spelling, no variants to correct: readers across English, Welsh and French recognize it on sight and say it the same way.
- A documented line running from Old Welsh Morcant to the present, with the written form essentially unchanged for centuries.
- Works unaltered for a boy or a girl, and needs no adjustment when traveling between English- and French-speaking countries.
To consider
- The gender reading flips by geography. In the US the spelling leans to girls; in Wales and much of Britain it is still firmly a man's name. A Morgan of either sex will meet people who expected the other.
- It is a heavily used surname too — think of firm names and the car marque — so it can read as a last name on a form until the first name is confirmed.
- The best-known bearer in older literature is Morgan le Fay, who moves from healer in the earliest text to antagonist in later Arthurian romance. Some people know that; most only half-remember it.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Marley
40%chance Marley feels dated by 2040
Marley 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.
Morgan
81%chance Morgan feels dated by 2040
Morgan is coming down from a big peak (#22 in 1997). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
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 Marley and Morgan 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 Morgan?
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 Morgan — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Marley or Morgan — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Marley or Morgan?
- Morgan, in 2025: Morgan ranked #312 with 977 babies; Marley ranked #322 with 950 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Marley or Morgan?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Marley moved down 111 places; Morgan moved down 117 places.
- Which is the older name, Marley or Morgan?
- Marley entered the US charts in 1937; Morgan entered the US charts in 1918. On the American record, Morgan is the older name.
- How many people are named Marley and Morgan?
- About 33,000 people named Marley are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 221,000 people named Morgan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Marleys or Morgans in the classroom?
- Marley will almost certainly be the only one in school. Morgan 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, Morgan and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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