Marilena
Feminine · “Italian "Maria" joined to "Elena”
Italy fuses double names as a matter of style, not necessity. Marilena, Annamaria, Mariagrazia, Gianluca and Pierpaolo are written as single words in Italian because Italian likes them that way — which is a different situation from the Spanish grammatical fusion or the American form-driven one.
How old is the name Marilena?
Marilena first appears in US birth records in 1948 — 77 years ago. The typical Marilena alive today was born around 2001, making them about 24 years old. About 700 people named Marilena are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Marilena most popular?
Marilena peaked in 1972, reaching #4300 nationally. Today it ranks #7491, 3,191 places below that high. See the whole 1972 chart.
Where it comes from
From Maria Elena to Marilena
The story of Marilena
Three different mechanisms produce fused double names in the American record and they should not be confused. Spanish has a genuine combining form, Mari-, so Maricruz and Maricarmen are single words in the language itself. American forms have no field for a Spanish or Portuguese double name, so families fuse Juan José and José Miguel defensively to keep the unit intact. Italian simply writes many established pairs as one word by convention — Marilena, Annamaria, Gianluigi — and has done so for a long time. Marilena is common in Italy and Romania, and the American figures peak in 1972 with Italian-American families.
Meaning
Italian "Maria" joined to "Elena"
A compound of Maria, from Hebrew Miryam, whose meaning is not settled, and Elena, the Italian form of Helen, whose Greek meaning is likewise unrecovered. Neither half has a secure etymology, which is unusual for such a widely used pair. The fusion is Italian and Romanian practice; the same combination is written Mari Elena or María Elena in Spanish.
How the name formed
- Maria Elena
- Marilena
Related forms: Marilena · Marilena · María Elena
Pronouncing Marilena
mah-ree-LEH-nah
Four syllables, stress on the third, with pure Italian vowels and a tapped r. English speakers usually reduce the first two vowels.
Nicknames for Marilena
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1948
- Most girls named
- 202121 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #4300reached in 1972
- Change vs 2024
- 0.0%14 in 2025, from 14
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Marilena in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Marilena in Italian — same name
- Marilena in Romanian — same name
- María Elena in Spanish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Marilenas among us
people named Marilena are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 114,805 born in 2025 was named Marilena
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Marcos test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Marilena's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Marcos climbed just as high around 1926, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Marcos's path sketches the road Marilena is walking now.
Marilena 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 scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Marilena beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Marilena in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Mari and Lena are immediate short forms with independent lives.
- It is established in Italian and Romanian as a single word.
- It is soft and flowing and easy to say once heard.
- English speakers will try to split it into two names.
- Neither half has a securely established meaning.
- Four syllables is long for American everyday use.
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What they receive
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Marilena
Feminine · #7491 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Marilenas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Marilena are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Marilena in 2025?
- Marilena ranks #7491 among US girl names in 2025, with 14 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Marilena?
- About 1 in every 114,805 US girls born in 2025 was named Marilena — 14 in all.
- Will my child share the name Marilena with classmates?
- Marilena will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Marilena
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Christie#7491 · Carmelita#7491 · Jetta#7491 · Hildegard#7491 · Rickie#7491 · Billy#7491 · Angelyn#7491 · Jewell#7491
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Marilena? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Marilena and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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