first name
MARY
of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census
Of the 1,768,343 people named Mary, 81.1% reported their origin as White, 9.3% as Black and 5.6% as Hispanic or Latino. Virtually all are female (99.8%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.
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Thanks! We'll make the most-wanted one next.
Mary peaked in 1921, when 74,171 babies got the name.
At least 4,156,654 babies have been given the name since 1880. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.
Mary by decade
Among all names given to American babies, it ranked #1 in every decade from the 1880s to the 1920s. The largest share of babies named Mary, 28.8%, were born between 1901 and 1927, the Greatest Generation's birth years.
Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.
Where Mary is most common
Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Mary has been most common in Mississippi (1.8×), Alabama (1.7×), and West Virginia (1.7×), and least common in Nevada (0.27×).
3,766,551 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.
Either side of Mary
Spelled almost the same
8 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Mary, most common first.
Also a last name
As a last name, Mary ranks #12,052 of 156,621, with 2,471 people. See Mary as a last name
Compare
🔎 MARY 🟦⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 1 in 171 Americans More common than 93.6% of us Peaked in 1921 with 74,171 babies Beat that 👇 https://howrareismy.name/first/mary/