# Marla (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/marla/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | girls |
| Origin | Hebrew |
| Meaning | not recorded |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 38,819 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 38 / 38,781 (100% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 666, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

American back-formation from Marlene, first used in the 1930s.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 68 | 2,629 |
| 2012 | 71 | 2,559 |
| 2013 | 53 | 3,110 |
| 2014 | 86 | 2,209 |
| 2015 | 67 | 2,675 |
| 2016 | 69 | 2,583 |
| 2017 | 71 | 2,526 |
| 2018 | 63 | 2,728 |
| 2019 | 77 | 2,346 |
| 2020 | 68 | 2,540 |
| 2021 | 75 | 2,408 |
| 2022 | 80 | 2,333 |
| 2023 | 88 | 2,170 |
| 2024 | 79 | 2,340 |
| 2025 | 92 | 2,055 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1955 | 5 | 4,197 |
| 1956 | 6 | 3,793 |
| 1961 | 7 | 3,560 |
| 1965 | 5 | 4,251 |
| 1966 | 5 | 4,320 |
| 1970 | 5 | 5,184 |
| 1982 | 5 | 6,996 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 16 | 1,729 |
| 2012 | 19 | 1,583 |
| 2013 | 21 | 1,484 |
| 2014 | 16 | 1,798 |
| 2015 | 26 | 1,279 |
| 2016 | 28 | 1,211 |
| 2017 | 35 | 1,021 |
| 2018 | 24 | 1,343 |
| 2019 | 35 | 996 |
| 2020 | 49 | 749 |
| 2021 | 49 | 755 |
| 2022 | 37 | 940 |
| 2023 | 73 | 536 |
| 2024 | 76 | 516 |
| 2025 | 46 | 792 |

## People named Marla

- Marla Maples, American actress and TV personality (born 1963)
- Marla Gibbs, actress, entertainer, singer, writer, and producer (born 1931)
- Marla Sokoloff, American actress
- Marla Adams, American actress (1938–2024)
- Marla English, American film actress (1935-2012)
- Marla Runyan, Blind paralympics competitor, Athletics competitor, long distance runner, heptathlete, spr
- Marla Heasley, American Film/TV actress
- Marla Frazee, American writer and illustrator

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.