Marylee
Feminine · “Hebrew Miryam”
Mary was the most common girl's name in America for the better part of a century, and that creates a practical problem. When every third daughter shares a name, families start adding a second element, and Marylee, Maryann and Marylou are what the record shows.
How old is the name Marylee?
Marylee first appears in US birth records in 1900 — 125 years ago. The typical Marylee alive today was born around 1946, making them about 79 years old. About 1,900 people named Marylee are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Marylee most popular?
Marylee peaked in 1941, reaching #756 nationally. Today it ranks #10107, 9,351 places below that high. See the whole 1941 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Miryam to Marylee
The story of Marylee
Mary held the top of the American girls' list almost without interruption from the beginning of the records until the late 1940s, at a share no name reaches now. Saturation of that kind produces compounds. A family with three Marys among the cousins needs a way to tell them apart, and the second element does the work in speech long before it appears on paper: Mary Lee, Mary Ann, Mary Lou, Mary Beth, Mary Jane. Each is used as a single unit, and eventually the space disappears and the compound is registered as one name. What is being recorded is not a fashion for compounds as such but the pressure of a monopoly, which is why the compounds thin out immediately once Mary loses the top of the list.
Meaningscholars disagree
Hebrew Miryam, meaning unknown, plus Lee
A compound of Mary, from Hebrew Miryam, whose meaning is genuinely unsettled, and Lee, an English surname from Old English leah, a clearing. The compound has no separate meaning; it is the two names in sequence. The peak of the fused spelling is 1941.
How the name formed
- Miryam
- Mary
- Mary Lee
- Marylee
Related forms: Marilee · Maryly
Pronouncing Marylee
MAIR-ee-lee
Three syllables, with the main stress on the first and a secondary stress on the last, which keeps both names audible.
Nicknames for Marylee
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
- 1900
- Most girls named
- 194189 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #756reached in 1941
- Change vs 2023
- +50.0%9 in 2025, from 6
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.
Marylee in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Marilee in English — spelling variant
- Maryly in English — spelling variant
Marylees among us
people named Marylee are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 178,585 born in 2025 was named Marylee
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Marylee
- #10107
- Marylee on the 2025 chart
- #938
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Marylee went to 9 girls in 2025, but Marilee is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 22, which makes it the 938th most-given girls’ name of the year — 9,169 places above the chart.
- Marilee13
- Marylee9
About 1 girl in 73,058 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 178,585 for Marylee itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Mafalda test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Marylee's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Mafalda climbed just as high around 1915, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Mafalda's path sketches the road Marylee is walking now.
Marylee 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
Marylee beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Marylee in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Both halves are complete names and either works alone.
- It is instantly readable and needs no spelling out.
- Molly, Mary and Lee are three short forms with different registers.
- The fused spelling competes with the two-word Mary Lee.
- The 1941 peak dates it to the mid-century.
- Three syllables plus a surname makes for a long full name.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Marylee to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Marylee? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Marylee
Feminine · #10107 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Marylees are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,900 people named Marylee are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Marylee?
- Marylee is one of 2 recorded spellings. Marilee is the more common one — 13 births in 2025 against 9 for Marylee.
- How popular is the name Marylee in 2025?
- Marylee ranks #10107 among US girl names in 2025, with 9 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Marylee?
- About 1 in every 178,585 US girls born in 2025 was named Marylee — 9 in all.
- Will my child share the name Marylee with classmates?
- Marylee will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Marylee
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Berta#10107 · Jettie#10107 · Maye#10107 · Osa#10107 · Fidelia#10107 · Alysa#10107 · Su#10107 · Willie#10107
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Marylee? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Marylee and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
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
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle