ninan.org

Mary

Girls' name · Early 20th-century perennial

Living in the US
~1,794,300 survival-weighted estimate
2025 rank
#125 among girls
Births in 2025
2,230 4,156,654 since 1880
Typical age
70 years, median

Mary popularity over time

Mary rank by birth year, 1880–2025Mary ranked #1 in 1880 and #125 in 2025. Its best rank in the period was #1, in 1880.#1#10#100#125best #1 in 188018901920195019802010
Rank among US baby names by birth year, 1880–2025. Lower is more popular; the scale is logarithmic so the top of the chart is not compressed.

1921 is the peak year for Mary, with 74,171 births. It appears in the very first year SSA covers, 1880. It has held a top-100 place in 129 separate years.

The 2025 position is #125, on 2,230 births.

Babies named Mary per yearPeaks at 74,171 births in 1921.74,171 in 1921018901920195019802010
Recorded US births by year. The peak is labelled; the axis starts at zero.

How many people are named Mary?

An estimated 1,794,300 living Americans are called Mary. SSA has recorded 4,156,654 births under the name since 1880.

This is a survival-weighted estimate, not a headcount: every recorded birth year is multiplied by the chance someone born that year is still alive, using the SSA period life table. How the estimate works.

How old is the average Mary?

Median age among living Marys: 70. The 1950s produced the largest surviving cohort. By the site’s era rules that makes Mary a early 20th-century perennial name.

Your Mary

Ages of living people named MaryHalf of living Marys are older than 70 and half younger.median 70020406080100
Estimated living bearers by age today. Each bar is a birth year, weighted by the chance someone born then is still alive.

Where Mary is most common

Mississippi uses the name 5.3× as often as the country as a whole. Alabama, South Carolina and District of Columbia follow.

Where Mary is used more than average5 states use the name Mary more than the national average.Alaska: not over-representedAKMaine: not over-representedMEVermont: not over-representedVTNew Hampshire: not over-representedNHWashington: not over-representedWAIdaho: not over-representedIDMontana: not over-representedMTNorth Dakota: not over-representedNDMinnesota: not over-representedMNIllinois: not over-representedILWisconsin: not over-representedWIMichigan: not over-representedMINew York: not over-representedNYOregon: not over-representedORNevada: not over-representedNVWyoming: not over-representedWYSouth Dakota: not over-representedSDIowa: not over-representedIAIndiana: not over-representedINOhio: not over-representedOHPennsylvania: not over-representedPANew Jersey: not over-representedNJConnecticut: not over-representedCTRhode Island: not over-representedRICalifornia: not over-representedCAUtah: not over-representedUTColorado: not over-representedCONebraska: not over-representedNEMissouri: not over-representedMOKentucky: not over-representedKYWest Virginia: not over-representedWVVirginia: not over-representedVAMaryland: not over-representedMDDelaware: not over-representedDEMassachusetts: not over-representedMAArizona: not over-representedAZNew Mexico: not over-representedNMKansas: not over-representedKSArkansas: not over-representedARTennessee: 2.4× the national rateTNNorth Carolina: not over-representedNCSouth Carolina: 2.7× the national rateSCDistrict of Columbia: 2.6× the national rateDCOklahoma: not over-representedOKLouisiana: not over-representedLAMississippi: 5.3× the national rateMSAlabama: 5.2× the national rateALGeorgia: not over-representedGAHawaii: not over-representedHITexas: not over-representedTXFlorida: not over-representedFL
Same as national3× or more
Location quotient, 2016–2025. Shaded states use the name more than the country does, relative to their own births. Exact figures are in the table below.
States where Mary is over-represented, 2016–2025. The location quotient compares the state's share of the name with the national share.
StateBirthsvs national rate
Mississippi 774 5.3×
Alabama 1,390 5.2×
South Carolina 691 2.7×
District of Columbia 107 2.6×
Tennessee 1,039 2.4×

Mary in England and Wales

In England and Wales, Mary ranked #329 in 2025 on 131 births.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Counts below three are suppressed by ONS.

Where the name Mary comes from

+am (surah) thumb|A depiction of Mary, Mother of God, praying in quiet devotion (The Virgin in Prayer by w:Giovanni Battista Salvi da Sassoferrato|Sassoferrato,) From Middle English Marie, from Old French Marie, from Latin Maria, from Ancient Greek Μαρία, Μαριάμ, from Aramaic מַרְיָם or Biblical Hebrew מִרְיָם, of uncertain meaning (see the Hebrew entry for more). Doublet of Miriam, Marie, Maria, Mariah.

Etymology summarised from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0. Wiktionary entry.

Notable people named Mary

Ordered by how many Wikipedia language editions have an article about them — a measure of reach, not of importance.
NameKnown forYearsEditions
Mary Shelley English writer 1797–1851 133
Mary Wollstonecraft English writer and intellectual 1759–1797 129
Mary I Queen of England and Ireland from 1553 to 1558 1516–1558 101
Mary Pickford Canadian actress and producer 1892–1979 100
Mary Cassatt American painter and printmaker (1844—1926) 1844–1926 89
Mary II Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 1689 to 1694 1662–1695 79
Mary Robinson former President of Ireland and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights 1944 79
Mary McAleese 8th President of Ireland 1951 68
Photo credits (8)

People and dates from Wikidata (CC0), limited to those with an English Wikipedia article who are known by this name as their first name.

How Mary is usually spelled

Spellings within one or two letters of each other, and how 2025 births divided between them.
SpellingBirths in 2025Share
Mary this page 2,230 82%
Marie 474 18%

Names similar to Mary

Matched by sound and spelling inside this dataset, then ordered by total recorded births. This is not a claim about shared etymology.

Same feel, less common

The same matches, limited to names given at most half as often as Mary was in 2025.

Related pages

Get this data

Every number on this page is available as JSON: /api/name/mary.json. Free to use with attribution (CC BY 4.0).