Popularity of the name Mary, 1880–2025

Mary was at its most popular in 1880, when 7,065 girls were given the name: about 1 in 13 girls born in the U.S. that year, ranking #1. In 2025, 2,230 girls were named Mary, ranking #125. In all, Social Security counts 4,141,481 girls named Mary since 1880. Social Security’s records also list 15,173 boys named Mary. Its peak falls in the earliest years of the records, and counts from before about 1937 are incomplete, because many people born then never applied for a Social Security card.

Peak year

1880

Rank in 1880

#1

Babies in 1880

7,065

Rank in 2025

#125

Total since 1880

4,141,481

Where it stands now

In the past decade the name slipped from #123 in 2015 to #125 in 2025: 2,642 girls got it in 2015, and 2,230 in 2025.

Decade by decade

Its best decade was the 1880s, when 91,668 girls were named Mary, #1 for the decade. In the 2020s so far it ranks #132.

Every 20 years in the records: 7,065 in 1880 (#1), 16,705 in 1900 (#1), 70,983 in 1920 (#1), 56,216 in 1940 (#1), 51,472 in 1960 (#1), 11,474 in 1980 (#25), 6,222 in 2000 (#46) and 2,230 in 2020 (#123).

Highs and lows

The most girls given the name in a single year was 73,984, in 1921. That is not its peak year: Social Security’s records hold more girls for 1921 than for 1880, so the name’s share of births was smaller. Its best rank, #1, came in its peak year.

Every year

The table lists every year from 1880 to 2025 in which Social Security recorded at least 5 girls named Mary, with the name’s rank that year.

How these numbers are counted

Social Security publishes, for every year since 1880, how many babies of each sex were given each name, counting any name given to at least 5. A name’s rank is its place that year among names for the same sex, by number of babies. Names with the same count share a rank here, while Social Security’s own lists break ties alphabetically, so a rank can differ from theirs by a place or two. A name’s share is the number of babies given it divided by all babies of that sex in the data that year, and its peak is the year that share was highest. Shares rather than counts set the peak, because far more babies were born in some years than others: counting babies alone would pull nearly every name’s peak toward the 1946–1964 baby boom.

Source: the U.S. Social Security Administration’s national baby name data, from Social Security card applications for babies born in the U.S. A name is left out of a year when fewer than 5 babies of one sex got it, and counts before about 1937 are incomplete, because many people born then never applied for a card. See how Baby Boom builds its data. Figures may contain errors.