How popular is the baby name Marley in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Marley.

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Popularity of the baby name Marley


Posts that mention the name Marley

The fastest-falling baby names of 2010

I’m seeing a lot of discussion today about the fastest-rising baby names of 2010. There’s Maci and Bentley (thanks to a reality TV show about pregnant teens), Tiana (thanks to Disney), Kellan (thanks to Twilight), Knox (thanks to Brangelina), and more.

But let’s look at the flip side. Which names fell in 2010? Which were some of the biggest losers?

I’ll give you a hint: Many were once the fast-risers. They became trendy for a little while, thanks to pop culture (e.g. a singer, a band, a movie, a book). But when that influence began to fade, the names began to fall.

  • Ciara, down 79 spots (singer Ciara)
  • Jonas, down 80 spots (musicians Jonas Brothers)
  • Marley, down 85 spots (movie Marley & Me)
  • Kimora, down 90 spots (model Kimora Lee Simmons)
  • Rihanna, down 198 spots (singer Rihanna)
  • Analia, down 472 spots (telenovela El Rostro de Analía)

This group even includes the names of the president’s daughters, Sasha (down 84 spots) and Malia (down 111 spots), whose names have not been in the news as much since 2008 and 2009.

Sources: SSA’s Change in Name Popularity page, “Maci” and “Bentley” soar in baby name game

Baby name needed: Boy or girl name for Aspen’s sibling

A reader named Kendra, who has a daughter named Aspen, is now expecting a second baby (gender unknown). She’d like the baby’s first name to:

  • Be “different yet familiar”
  • Be easy to spell
  • Start with something other than A, K or M
  • End with something other than A or N

She’d like the middle name to start with J. Current favorites for the middle spot are Jacob, Johnmichael (a family name), Jenai and Jane.

For first names, I think occupational and habitational names would be a good place to start:

Bailey
Carter
Chase
Cooper
Finley
Fisher
Fletcher
Harper
Hunter		Marley
Parker
Piper
Presley
Ridley
Ripley
Roscoe
Ryder
Sawyer		Slater
Tanner
Tatum
Taylor
Tucker
Turner
Thatcher
Tyler
Wesley

They are rooted in the physical (as Aspen is), but they won’t lock Kendra into noun-names (as names like Sage or Willow would). Most are also theoretically gender-neutral — again, like Aspen — though in real life they tend to be used for either one gender or the other.

These names also came to mind:

  • Bryce, Cody, Cole, Max, Rory, Royce, Ryker, and Ulysses for boys,
  • Carley, Chloe, Daphne, and Heidi for girls, and
  • Cassidy and Emery for either boys or girls.

(Daphne does refer to another kind of tree, but the connection is subtle, so I think it would be all right with Aspen.)

It’s tricky to suggest middle names without a definitive first name in place. I do really like Johnmichael and Jane, though. I also thought Kendra might find Jonah, Jett or Jude appealing, as they became fashionable (as first names) right around the same time Aspen did.

Do you like any of the above names? What others would you suggest?

Update – The baby is here! Scroll down to see what name Kendra chose.

Popular baby names in the United States, 2008

Flag of the United States
Flag of the United States

And…here they are the new top-10 lists!

Girl names

  1. Emma (was #2 in 2007)
  2. Isabella (no change)
  3. Emily (was #1)
  4. Madison (was #5)
  5. Ava (was #4)
  6. Olivia (was #7)
  7. Sophia (was #6)
  8. Abigail (no change)
  9. Elizabeth (was #10)
  10. Chloe (was #16)

Boy names

  1. Jacob (no change)
  2. Michael (always #2!)
  3. Ethan (no change)
  4. Joshua (no change)
  5. Daniel (no change)
  6. Alexander (was #11)
  7. Anthony (no change)
  8. William (no change)
  9. Christopher (was #6)
  10. Matthew (was #9)

The first thing I had to check was Michael. I’d be so upset if it slipped any lower than #2. Just seems like tradition at this point. :)

There is one newbie on each top ten list: Alexander for boys, Chloe for girls. On the flip side of that are the “biggest losers,” Andrew (which has dropped to 12th) and Hannah (which has dropped to 17th).

And which two names just missed the cut? 11th-place Jayden and 12th-place Addison, two rather trendy names riding their newfound fame to the top. (Will they ever make it? Tune in next year — same baby name-time, same baby name-channel!)

I haven’t really delved into anything more than the top names at this point. I’m seeing news articles about Barack and Miley being more popular this year — have yet to check that out.

Have you combed through the new list yet? If so, did you see anything interesting?

Update: Here’s more from the SSA’s press release:

A brand new feature to the website this year is the “Change in Name Popularity” page.  This year’s winner for the biggest jump is Khloe, which is undoubtedly related to the popularity of Khloe Kardashian from the show “Keeping Up with the Kardashians.” Khloe with a K increased 469 spots to number 196 in 2008, up from 665 in 2007 and 960 in 2006 (her first year on the list).  Also, Chloe with a C is in the Top 10 for the first time ever.  Another fast riser is Miley, moving up 152 spots to number 127 for 2008, a rather impressive increase given this is only her second year on the list.  On the downside for fans of Miley Cyrus’ fictional character, the name Hannah fell out of the Top 10 and landed down at number 17.  Jacoby had the biggest increase for the boys, moving up 200 spots to number 423.  Commissioner Michael Astrue, a die-hard Red Sox fan, attributed the rise of Jacoby to the appeal of last year’s star rookie centerfielder, Jacoby Ellsbury.

The name everybody is wondering about, Barack, did not make this year’s top 1,000 boy’s list, but it did set what is believed to be a record by skyrocketing more than 10,000 spots in rising from number 12,535 in 2007 to 2,409 in 2008.  Social Security’s sophisticated predictive models are forecasting an increase well into the top 1,000 for Barack for 2009.

In this year of change, many unfamiliar names debuted on the top 1,000 list.  These names include Isla (623), Mareli (718), Dayami (750), Nylah (821) and Jazlene (831) to name a few for the girls.  For the boys: Aaden (No. 343), Chace (655), Marley (764), Kash (779), Kymani (836), Ishaan (851), Jadiel (874) and Urijah (889).  Social Security officials expressed hope that parents were not naming their sons Marley after the badly behaved dog who starred in the movie “Marley and Me.”  Beckham also made the list for the first time, coming in at number 893—undoubtedly influenced by the arrival in the United States of British soccer star David Beckham.

Sources: SSA, America’s Parents Vote for Change on Social Security’s Most Popular Baby Names List – SSA

Image: Adapted from Flag of the United States (public domain)

Baby name needed: Girl name for Eli’s sister

A reader named Liz, who already has a son named Eli, is now expecting a baby girl. Here’s her dilemma:

I love Caroline, my husband loves Marley, obviously we have different tastes and can’t seem to meet in the middle. I would like to use Ruth or Ellen for a middle name.

My first thought–and I’m sure Liz and her husband have already considered this: What about names like Madeleine, Marlene, and Marilyn? They have the feel of Caroline, but allow for the nickname Marley. (They don’t quite work with the middle name Ellen, though.)

There’s also the possibility of using Mary (or something similar) as a first name, Ellen as a middle, and Marley as a nickname for the combination.

My second thought: If popularity is an issue, they might want to be wary of Marley. It’s not too popular right now, but it’s steadily climbing the charts…and the movie Marley & Me could be what launches it into “trendy” territory.

Ok, enough thinking…it’s name time! On the left are formal names with fun nicknames; on the right are names that (by themselves) seem to be a good compromise between classic and cute.

Antonia (Toni, Nia)
Beatrix (Bea, Trixie)
Clarissa (Rissa)
Georgina (Gina, Gigi)
Josephine (Josie, Phina)
Matilda (Mattie, Tilda)
Miriam (Miri)*
Paulina (Paula, Lina)
Penelope (Penny, Nelle)
Theresa (Tess/a, Rese/a)
Victoria (Vickie, Tori)		Celia
Chloe
Cora
Daisy
Lucy
Lydia
Mara
Mia
Phoebe
Ruby
Sylvie

*I know, I know…also a recent movie name. I don’t think Zack and Miri Make a Porno is quite as widely known as Marley & Me, though.

What other ideas would you offer to Liz?