Maurene
Feminine · “Irish 'little Mary”
Maurene sits where two names meet: the Irish Maureen, 'little Mary', and a feminine of Maurice. The sound belongs to one of the great champions in tennis history, a teenager called Little Mo.
How old is the name Maurene?
Maurene first appears in US birth records in 1904 — 121 years ago. The typical Maurene alive today was born around 1941, making them about 84 years old. About 300 people named Maurene are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Maurene most popular?
Maurene peaked in 1904, reaching #1659 nationally. See the whole 1904 chart.
Where it comes from
From Máirín to Maurene
The story of Maurene
Maureen came into American use from Ireland in the early twentieth century, but Maurene appears in the record even earlier, when Maurice was a familiar name and its feminines Maurine and Maurene were being made for daughters; nothing records which road a particular family took. The name's most celebrated bearer spelled it the Irish way: in 1953 Maureen Connolly of San Diego, known as Little Mo, won all four major tennis championships in one year at eighteen, the first woman to do so. A riding accident ended her career the following year.
Meaningscholars disagree
Irish 'little Mary', or a feminine of Maurice
Maureen is the English form of Irish Máirín, a pet form of Mary. Maurene may instead be a feminine of Maurice, 'Moorish'; it appears early in the American record, before Maureen was common, which makes the second road at least as likely.
How the name formed
- Máirín
- Maureen
- Maurene
Related forms: Máirín · Maureen · Maurine · Maurice
Pronouncing Maurene
maw-REEN
Two syllables with the stress on the second, like Maureen.
Nicknames for Maurene
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
- 1904
- Most girls named
- 195420 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1659reached in 1904
- Change vs 1980
- +20.0%6 in 1981, 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.
Maurene in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Máirín in Irish — related form
- Maureen in English — spelling variant
- Maurine in English — spelling variant
- Maurice in French — related form
Maurenes among us
people named Maurene 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
Maurene 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
- Sounds like Maureen, a name most people know.
- Comes with Mo as a ready short form.
- Very rare in this spelling.
- Almost everyone will write Maureen.
- It reads as a name of an older generation.
- Its two possible sources give a two-part answer to 'what does it mean'.
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Maurene
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Maurenes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 300 people named Maurene are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Maurene in 2025?
- Maurene is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Maurene with classmates?
- Maurene 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 Maurene? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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