Martika
Feminine
Martika is a stage name that became a given name, and the whole of its life in the American record fits inside about five years. A young singer from Miami put it on a record, the record went to the top, and for the length of that moment American parents wrote the name on birth certificates.
How old is the name Martika?
Martika first appears in US birth records in 1986 — 39 years ago. The typical Martika alive today was born around 1991, making them about 34 years old. About 1,100 people named Martika are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Martika most popular?
Martika peaked in 1990, reaching #757 nationally. See the whole 1990 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Marta, the Spanish and Italian form of Martha to Martika
The story of Martika
The song was about a school friend who had died, and it was recorded when the singer was a teenager. It went to the top of the American charts at the end of the 1980s, was covered by a rapper five years later and became famous a second time, and the name appears in birth records in precisely the years between those two events. Then it stops. Almost nothing else in the record has a shape that clean: a name that enters, peaks and leaves inside the working life of one song.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The performer was born Marta Marrero and built the name from her own first one, which makes it an invention rather than an inheritance. The ending exists in several European languages as a diminutive, and it has been available in American naming for a long time without belonging to anyone. What the name means, then, is nothing in particular — it is a way of saying Marta that sounds larger, which is exactly what a stage name is for.
How the name formed
- Marta, the Spanish and Italian form of Martha
- a diminutive ending available across several languages
- a Miami singer builds a stage name from both
- the name enters US records in the middle 1980s
- peaks at the turn of the decade and stops
Related forms: Marta · Martyna · Martica
Pronouncing Martika
mar-TEE-kuh
Three syllables with the weight in the middle. Spanish speakers keep the r crisp and the vowels pure; the English reading is close enough that nobody is ever misunderstood.
Nicknames for Martika
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
- 1986
- Most girls named
- 1990273 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #757reached in 1990
- Change vs 2000
- −28.6%10 in 2001, 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.
Martika in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Marta in Spanish — related form
- Martyna in Polish — related form
- Martica in English — spelling variant
Martikas among us
people named Martika 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
Martika 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
- It is read correctly at sight by English and Spanish speakers alike.
- Marta stands behind it as a traditional option and Marti as a short one.
- The rhythm is strong, with the stress where English likes it.
- The name is dated to about five years and will place its bearer exactly.
- It belongs to one performer, and anyone who remembers the song will say so.
- There is no meaning and no history behind it beyond the record itself.
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Martika
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Martikas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,100 people named Martika are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Martika in 2025?
- Martika is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Martika with classmates?
- Martika 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 Martika? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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