girl's name
Marlene
mar-LAY-nuh
- Origin German
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 7
- Popularity Uncommon
- Births on record 164,015
Scotland
#489
1986 births
Marlene was invented by the woman who made it famous — Marie Magdalene Dietrich contracted her own two names into one. American births went from 306 to 2,597 the year after her first Hollywood film.
- Marlene is a name of German origin.
- Peaked in 1936, when 5,354 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 18,731 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1904.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Marlene over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1900s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1900s | 18 |
| 1910s | 263 |
| 1920s | 774 |
| 1930s | 37,490 |
| 1940s | 29,371 |
| 1950s | 25,281 |
| 1960s | 12,985 |
| 1970s | 5,744 |
| 1980s | 4,799 |
| 1990s | 5,754 |
| 2000s | 5,283 |
| 2010s | 2,222 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 948 |
What Marlene means
Marlene is a contraction of Marie and Magdalene, so it carries both — Mary, whose own meaning is unsettled, and Magdalene, meaning of Magdala, a town on the Sea of Galilee.
Where Marlene comes from
Marlene compresses Maria Magdalena, and the compression is traceable to one person: Marie Magdalene Dietrich joined her two given names into a single stage name in 1920s Berlin. Magdalene is a place name, from Magdala on the Sea of Galilee, so Mary Magdalene means Mary of Magdala in the way Jesus of Nazareth works. Mary itself, from the Hebrew Miriam, has no settled derivation — bitterness, beloved and wished-for child are all proposals and none is established. The song Lili Marleen, recorded in 1939, carried the spelling separately through the war on both sides of it.
Marlene in use
The Dietrich story holds up in our data, which is not something we can say of most such claims. American births ran at 306 in 1930, then 2,597 in 1931 — an eight-fold jump in a single year, immediately after Morocco, her first Hollywood film, opened in November 1930. It climbed to a peak of 5,354 in 1936 and is falling now, ranking 1261st in the United States on 177 births, 3671st in France and 5200th in England and Wales, across 164,015 lifetime births.
How popular is Marlene?
In 2025, Marlene was given to 177 babies in the United States. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.
Where Marlene is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
How Marlene is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Marlène | Marlène is a rare spelling of Marlene, written with a grave accent and recorded about 32,225 times, mostly in France. | 32,225 |
Names that peaked alongside Marlene
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Marlene also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Marlene over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
2 nicknames for Marlene
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Marlene in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Marlene
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Marlene — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Marlene
What does the name Marlene mean?
It joins Marie and Magdalene — Mary, whose meaning is unsettled, and of Magdala, a town on the Sea of Galilee.
Did Marlene Dietrich invent the name?
She contracted her own two names, Marie Magdalene, into one. Our data shows American births jumping eight-fold the year after her first Hollywood film.
Does Magdalene mean anything?
Of Magdala — a place, so Mary Magdalene works like Jesus of Nazareth.
How popular is Marlene?
1261st in the United States, down from a 1936 peak of 5,354 births.
Is Marlene a girl's or a boy's name?
Marlene is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Marlene?
Marlene has 2 syllables.
What are the nicknames for Marlene?
Marlene is usually shortened to Marlie and Lena.
Is Marlene a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Marlene currently ranks #1,261 in the United States. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.