Marion
- Pronunciation
- [Ma-ri-on]
- Gender
- Female
- Meaning
- Bitter
- Origin
- Hebrew
About the Name Marion
Marion is a French diminutive of Marie, the French form of Mary — ultimately from the Hebrew name whose meaning has been variously interpreted as bitter, beloved, or wished-for child, with the most widely cited root being "bitter." As a feminine given name, Marion carried the double advantage of French elegance and religious familiarity, making it a natural choice for English-speaking parents at the turn of the twentieth century who wanted a name that was distinctive yet rooted in recognisable tradition.
Marion Cotillard (born 1975) is a French actress, singer, and environmental activist whose three-decade career has produced multiple defining French and American film roles — particularly her 2008 Best Actress Academy Award win. Marion Barry was born Marion Shepilov Barry Jr. on March 6, 1936, in Itta Bena, Mississippi, the son of sharecroppers; after his father's death the family moved to Memphis, where he became the first in his family to attend college.
In US Social Security records, Marion appears in the top-1000 from 1891 and reached its peak of #42 in 1922, a high point that reflects the name's strong association with the early-twentieth-century taste for French-accented feminine forms. It exited the chart in 1936 with 2,580 births at #93, having accumulated more than 134,000 top-1000 births. Recorded variants include Marian and Maryon.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Marion
US Popularity History (1880–1936)
Annual US births named Marion by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 1924 with 6,047 girls named Marion (girl rank #46 that year).
Where it stands today: in 1936, ranked #93 for girls (2,580 US births). That's 47 places below its 1924 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
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Where in the US Is Marion Most Popular?
Average girl-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's girls-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Marion the strongest states are Oregon, Massachusetts, Louisiana.
Strongest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oregon | #566 | 21 |
| 2 | Massachusetts | #757 | 22 |
| 3 | Louisiana | #913 | 21 |
| 4 | Colorado | #932 | 16 |
| 5 | Washington | #953 | 21 |
Weakest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Washington | #953 | 21 |
| 2 | Colorado | #932 | 16 |
| 3 | Louisiana | #913 | 21 |
| 4 | Massachusetts | #757 | 22 |
| 5 | Oregon | #566 | 21 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Marion in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Variant Forms
Famous People Named Marion
2 notable figures from history and culture who share the name Marion.
- Marion Barry is an American Democratic politician, who served as the first president of the SNCC during the Civil Rights Movement.
- Marion Cotillard — Movie Actress (1975)
Looking for names like Marion?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Marion to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Marion against today's most popular girls-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).
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