Mary
Mary is ranked 132nd among girls in 2024 (2,196 births). It was the number one girl’s name in 1880–1946, 1953–1961.
- Rank in 2024
- #132up 1 from 2023
- Births in 2024
- 2,1960.14% of girls
- Peak year
- 192173,984 births
- Best rank
- #1first in 1880
- Since 1880
- 4,154,332people given the name
The story in the numbers
4,139,160 girls have been named Mary in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1921, with 73,984 births — 6.0% of all girls recorded that year.
The name has all but left use: 2,196 births in 2024, against 73,984 at the peak.
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1938, and the 1920s alone account for 17%. It has spent 145 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 129 of them in the top 100 and 92 in the top 10.
It is overwhelmingly a girl’s name: 15,172 boys have also been given it, 0.37% of the total.
Rank among girls, year by year
By decade
| Decade | girls named Mary | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 91,668 | |
| 1890s | 131,138 | |
| 1900s | 161,504 | |
| 1910s | 478,636 | |
| 1920s | 701,756 | |
| 1930s | 572,997 | |
| 1940s | 640,070 | |
| 1950s | 625,609 | |
| 1960s | 355,238 | |
| 1970s | 126,254 | |
| 1980s | 95,862 | |
| 1990s | 75,713 | |
| 2000s | 46,310 | |
| 2010s | 25,683 | |
| 2020s | 10,722 |
In 1921, its biggest year
Mary was the most given girl’s name that year. The top five girls’ names of 1921 were Mary, Dorothy, Helen, Margaret and Ruth. See all of 1921.
Names that rose and fell with Mary
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Marthapeak 1947
- Rosettapeak 1948
- Lenorapeak 1924
- Dollypeak 1926
- Mariettapeak 1921
- Drucillapeak 1949
- Nonapeak 1950
- Margaretpeak 1921
Other spellings in the data
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.