Mary
The English form of Latin Maria, from Hebrew Miryam. The original meaning is unsettled, with proposals ranging from a root meaning bitter to an Egyptian word for beloved.
Mary in 2025
Mary was given to 2,230 babies in the United States in 2025, making it the 299th most popular name of the year. That is roughly one in every 1,487 babies born.
The history of Mary
Mary has been the single most popular name in the country 49 times, and reached its highest point in 1921, when 74,171 babies were given the name.
Across the 146 years of records since 1880, 4,156,654 babies have been named Mary. Half of them were born before 1938, which places the name's centre of gravity with the Silent Generation.
Mary by decade
| Decade | Babies named Mary | Best rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 92,030 | 1 |
| 1890s | 131,632 | 1 |
| 1900s | 162,187 | 1 |
| 1910s | 480,009 | 1 |
| 1920s | 704,186 | 1 |
| 1930s | 576,028 | 1 |
| 1940s | 642,384 | 3 |
| 1950s | 627,144 | 5 |
| 1960s | 356,586 | 7 |
| 1970s | 126,934 | 33 |
| 1980s | 96,472 | 60 |
| 1990s | 75,920 | 85 |
| 2000s | 46,443 | 116 |
| 2010s | 25,709 | 250 |
| 2020s | 12,990 | 299 |
Where Mary is heading
Mary has fallen 16% over the past decade, from 2,642 babies in 2015 to 2,230 in 2025.
That is less than 5% of its 1921 peak — Mary is now a rare name in the United States.
Names like Mary
Names that rose and fell at the same time as Mary.