How popular is the baby name Marlon 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 Marlon.

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Popularity of the baby name Marlon


Posts that mention the name Marlon

Where did the baby name Movita come from in 1938?

Actress Maria "Movita" Castaneda in the movie "Mutiny on the Bounty" (1935)
Movita in “Mutiny on the Bounty”

Actress Maria “Movita” Castaneda, often billed simply as Movita, was Marlon Brando’s second wife. Her nickname Movita appeared in the U.S. baby name data for two short periods of time. The first was 1938-1940:

  • 1941: unlisted
  • 1940: 8 baby girls named Movita
  • 1939: 12 baby girls named Movita
  • 1938: 10 baby girls named Movita [debut]
  • 1937: unlisted
  • 1936: unlisted

She’d been appearing in films like Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) since the early ’30s, but in the late ’30s she was getting extra press because of her relationship with Irish boxer/entertainer Jack Doyle. She married Doyle in 1939, but they divorced in 1944.

Movita married Marlon Brando in 1960, after his first marriage to Anna Kashfi had ended. The marriage didn’t last long, but the association with Brando gave Movita’s name another boost:

  • 1965: unlisted
  • 1964: 6 baby girls named Movita
  • 1963: 6 baby girls named Movita
  • 1962: 6 baby girls named Movita
  • 1961: unlisted

Brando left Movita in 1962 to be with the woman who would soon become his third wife, Tarita.

In a crazy coincidence, he met wife #3 while filming Mutiny on the Bounty (1962), a remake of the 1935 movie Movita had starred in.

Sources: Movita Castaneda – Wikipedia, SSA
Image: Screenshot of the trailer for Mutiny on the Bounty

Where did the baby name Josanne come from in 1955?

Josanne Mariani (Parade magazine, Jun. 1956)
Josanne Mariani

In late 1954, 19-year-old Josanne Mariani was making headlines. Why? Because Marlon Brando had announced that Josanne was his fiancée and that they would marry the following summer.

“The bride-to-be, for those with short memories, was a flashing-eyed French girl with jet tresses and a whirlwind hairdo. She was a fisherman’s daughter and a former model.” (I’m not sure what “whirlwind hairdo” means, but she basically had a pixie cut.)

In 1955, the name Josanne debuted in the U.S. baby name data:

  • 1958: 6 baby girls named Josanne
  • 1957: 12 baby girls named Josanne
  • 1956: 12 baby girls named Josanne
  • 1955: 22 baby girls named Josanne [debut]
  • 1954: unlisted
  • 1953: unlisted

The name spent far more time on the list than Josanne did with Marlon. Their romance soon ended, and “poor Miss Josanne Mariani-Berenger returned to the shadows from where she had emerged.” She was all but forgotten by the time Brando married his first wife, Anna Kashfi, in 1957.

Sources:

  • Lawrence, Scott. “The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter; But Marlon Brando’s Glints with Neon.” St. Petersburg Times 10 Jul. 1958: 12B.
  • Goodman, Lanie. “Marlon Brando in Love.” DuJour 29 Dec. 2016.
  • SSA

Image: Clipping from the cover of Parade magazine (3 Jun. 1956)

Where did the baby name Brando come from in 1955?

Actor Marlon Brando in the movie "On the Waterfront" (1954)
Marlon Brando in “On the Waterfront“

Yesterday we looked at Marlon Brando’s first name, so now let’s take a look at his last name.

Brando was not commonly used as a baby name before the 1950s, when Marlon Brando first hit the scene. The name debuted in the SSA’s baby name data in 1955 following the release of the crime drama On The Waterfront (1954), in which Brando played dockworker Terry Malloy.

  • 1957: unlisted
  • 1956: 5 baby boys named Brando
  • 1955: 6 baby boys named Brando [debut]
  • 1954: unlisted
  • 1953: unlisted

Then it dropped off the list again. It stayed off the list until 1971, when the buzz surrounding The Godfather (1972) brought it back:

  • 1974: 5 baby boys named Brando
  • 1973: 13 baby boys named Brando
  • 1972: 7 baby boys named Brando
  • 1971: 5 baby boys named Brando
  • 1970: unlisted

It’s been gaining momentum ever since. So far, peak usage years have been 2004 (the year Brando passed away) and 2008. In both of these years, 104 baby boys were named Brando.

In Marlon Brando’s case, the surname “Brando” is based on the German surname Brandau, which can refer to any of several locations in Germany.

Source: SSA

Image: Screenshot of On The Waterfront

What popularized the baby name Marlon?

Actor Marlon Brando in the movie "On the Waterfront" (1954)
Marlon Brando in “On the Waterfront“

Ready for a week’s worth of names related to actor Marlon Brando?

Let’s kick things off with Marlon Brando’s first name.

The name Marlon has been given to U.S. babies (both boys and girls) for many years, but it didn’t crack the top 1,000 (for boys) until 1950:

  • 1952: 98 baby boys named Marlon [rank: 711th]
  • 1951: 69 baby boys named Marlon [rank: 846th]
  • 1950: 52 baby boys named Marlon [rank: 968th]
  • 1949: 36 baby boys named Marlon
  • 1948: 27 baby boys named Marlon
Graph of the usage of the baby name Marlon in the U.S. since 1880
Usage of the baby name Marlon

This was the year Marlon Brando began appearing on the big screen, first in The Men (1950), then in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), Viva Zapata! (1952), Julius Caesar (1953) and On the Waterfront (1954).

Usage of the name has spiked twice so far:

  • The first spike was in 1955, when it became the 344th most popular boy name. This was thanks to On The Waterfront, for which Brando won the Oscar for Best Actor.
  • The second spike was in 1972, when it became the 218th most popular boy name. The Godfather (1972) — for which Brando won (but rejected!) the Oscar for Best Actor — was probably an influence, but I’m guessing the stronger influence was Marlon Jackson of The Jackson 5.

In 2009, the name Marlon was given to 374 baby boys and ranked 656th in the U.S.

What are your thoughts on this name?

Source: SSA

Image: Screenshot of On The Waterfront