Marna
Feminine
The mar- names cluster around two entirely unrelated things: the sea and Mary. Latin mare gave Marina and Maris; the Hebrew name gave Maria and everything built on it; and English speakers have been treating the two families as one for centuries because they start the same way.
How old is the name Marna?
Marna first appears in US birth records in 1913 — 112 years ago. The typical Marna alive today was born around 1951, making them about 74 years old. About 1,700 people named Marna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Marna most popular?
Marna peaked in 1947, reaching #1008 nationally. See the whole 1947 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Marina to Marna
The story of Marna
Marna appears in Scandinavian and German records as a short form and in American ones from early in the twentieth century, and it is short enough to have been arrived at from several directions independently. What it demonstrates is a general problem with short names: the shorter a name is, the less of its parent survives in it, and the harder it becomes to say where it came from. Two syllables is not much to work with. A name of this length is almost always more ambiguous than a long one, which is a trade families make without thinking about it.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The name can be cut from Marina, which is Latin and about the sea, or from the Mary family, which is Hebrew and whose own meaning is genuinely unsettled. Nothing distinguishes them here.
How the name formed
- Marina
- Marna
Related forms: Marna · Marna
Pronouncing Marna
MAR-nuh
Two syllables with the weight at the front. There is no second reading to correct.
Nicknames for Marna
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
- 1913
- Most girls named
- 196974 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1008reached in 1947
- Change vs 1992
- 0.0%5 in 2001, from 5
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.
Marna in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Marna in Swedish — same name
- Marna in German — same name
Marnas among us
people named Marna are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Marna sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Five letters, two syllables, and no sound an English speaker has to learn.
- It is genuinely uncommon while being entirely readable.
- It sits comfortably in front of almost any surname.
- Marna, Marnie and Myrna are near neighbors and will be confused.
- Its parentage is genuinely double, so the meaning depends on the family.
- It reads clearly as a name of the first half of the twentieth century.
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Marna
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Marnas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,700 people named Marna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Marna in 2025?
- Marna is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Marna with classmates?
- Marna will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More M names
The most-given names starting with M, all years combined.
Mary#125 · Margaret#112 · Michelle#465 · Melissa#419 · Maria#87 · Martha#712 · Marie#617 · Mildred#1962
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Marna? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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