Marlene
- Pronunciation
- [Mar-lene]
- Gender
- Female
- Meaning
- Variant Of Madeline Woman From Magdala.
- Origin
- English
About the Name Marlene
Marlene is a blend-name, a modern contraction fusing Maria and Magdalene — the second element referring to Mary Magdalene, whose epithet derives from the ancient town of Magdala on the Sea of Galilee. It can also be understood as a variant of Madeline (itself from Magdalene), which is broadly accurate: Marlene has no independent ancient etymology of its own, but belongs to the creative name-blending tradition of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Its two crisp syllables and melodic -ene ending gave it a modern continental feel that suited the interwar taste for names that felt both glamorous and accessible.
The name's cultural resonance is best appreciated through its era. Marlene arrived on American birth registers at a moment when European popular culture — cabaret, cinema, and the Germanic theatrical tradition — was exerting strong influence on American tastes. Its sound evoked sophistication without pretension, and the name carried a powerful association with a world of sleek, mid-century style.
In US Social Security records, Marlene first entered the top-1000 in 1931 and peaked at #39 in 1935, a concentrated surge that reflects the name's tight identification with a particular cultural moment. It demonstrated quiet staying power, remaining traceable on the chart until 2012 when it registered 257 births at #983, with a total of more than 52,000 top-1000 births across its full span. Recorded variants and related forms include Lena, Marla, Marlena, Marley, Marlie, and Marlin.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Marlene
US Popularity History (1931–2012)
Annual US births named Marlene by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 1936 with 5,332 girls named Marlene (girl rank #39 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2012, ranked #983 for girls (257 US births). That's 944 places below its 1936 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 Marlene 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 Marlene the strongest states are Arizona, Wisconsin, California.
Strongest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arizona | #752 | 45 |
| 2 | Wisconsin | #802 | 18 |
| 3 | California | #811 | 248 |
| 4 | Ohio | #814 | 61 |
| 5 | Indiana | #833 | 39 |
| 6 | Pennsylvania | #921 | 30 |
| 7 | Texas | #972 | 217 |
Weakest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Texas | #972 | 217 |
| 2 | Pennsylvania | #921 | 30 |
| 3 | Indiana | #833 | 39 |
| 4 | Ohio | #814 | 61 |
| 5 | California | #811 | 248 |
| 6 | Wisconsin | #802 | 18 |
| 7 | Arizona | #752 | 45 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Marlene in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Variant Forms
| Name | Meaning | Gender | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lena | Name Suffix. | Female | English |
| Marla | Variant Of Marlene Woman From Magdala. | Female | English |
| Marlena | Variant Of Madeline Woman From Magdala. | Female | English |
| Marley | From The March Meadow | Male | English |
| Marlie | Variant Of Marilyn | Female | American |
| Marlin | A Form Of Merle. | Male | English |
Looking for names like Marlene?
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 Marlene to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Marlene against today's most popular girls-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).