Marla
Feminine
Marla is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 38,781 girls against 38 boys since 1880.
Marla is a twentieth-century American contraction — Marlene squeezed, or Mary and a second element joined. It appears in the registers without an ancestor and spreads on sound.
How old is the name Marla?
Marla first appears in US birth records in 1912 — 113 years ago. The typical Marla alive today was born around 1963, making them about 62 years old. About 33,500 people named Marla are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Marla most popular?
Marla peaked in 1955, reaching #193 nationally. Today it ranks #2051, 1,858 places below that high. See the whole 1955 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Maria + Magdalene to Marla
The story of Marla
Marlene was a German blend of Maria and Magdalene made famous in the 1930s, and American naming shortened and reshaped it freely — Marla, Marlee, Marlo. Marla appears in American registers from the 1930s and rose through the 1950s and 1960s, peaking in the mid-1960s. It has no European ancestor of its own.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
No settled origin. It is generally read as a contraction of Marlene, itself a German blend of Maria and Magdalene; or as a compound of Mary with an -la ending. Neither is documented. Through Marlene it would reach the Hebrew Miryam, whose own meaning is unsettled.
How the name formed
- Maria + Magdalene
- Marlene
- Marla
Related forms: Marlene · Marlee · Marlo
Pronouncing Marla
MAR-luh
Two syllables, stress on the first. No variation between English accents.
Nicknames for Marla
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
- 1912
- Most girls named
- 19561,534 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #193reached in 1955
- Change vs 2023
- +4.5%92 in 2025, from 88
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.
Marla in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Marlene in German — related form
- Marlee in English — related form
- Marlo in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Marlas among us
people named Marla are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 17,470 born in 2025 was named Marla
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 Ernestine test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Marla's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Ernestine climbed just as high around 1926, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Ernestine's path sketches the road Marla is walking now.
Marla 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
Where Marla is headed
Marla should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Marla beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Marla in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two firm syllables that stand up well against a long surname.
- It is instantly readable while remaining genuinely uncommon.
- Marlene is available behind it as a longer form with a documented history.
- It has no documented meaning or parent name of its own.
- It is closely dated to the middle of the twentieth century.
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What they receive
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Marla
Feminine · #2051 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Marlas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 33,500 people named Marla are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Marla in 2025?
- Marla ranks #2051 among US girl names in 2025, with 92 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Marla?
- About 1 in every 17,470 US girls born in 2025 was named Marla — 92 in all.
- Will my child share the name Marla with classmates?
- Marla will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Marla
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Blythe#2051 · Yvonne#2051 · Star#2051 · Sade#2051 · Ryah#2051 · Jaylynn#2051 · Amya#2051 · Marta#2051
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Marla? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Marla and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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