US baby names · Girls · 1880–2025
Mary: name popularity by year
How often US parents chose Mary for a baby girl, year by year, from Social Security Administration records. When it peaked, how long it stayed in the top 10, and which generation it belongs to.
Mary was one of the 10 most common girls' names in the US in 92 years, between 1880 and 1971, and the #1 name in 76 of them. Births peaked in 1921, when 73,984 baby girls were named Mary, so by peak year it is a Greatest Generation name.
Mary in the US top 10, by year
Rank among girls' names, #1 at the top. Blank years: outside the top 10. Dashed line: the year with the most babies named Mary (1921).
Top-10 years by generation
| Generation | Years in top 10 | Best rank |
|---|---|---|
| Before 1883 | 3 (1880–1882) | #1 |
| Lost Generation | 18 (1883–1900) | #1 |
| Greatest Generation | 27 (1901–1927) | #1 |
| Silent Generation | 18 (1928–1945) | #1 |
| Baby Boomers | 19 (1946–1964) | #1 |
| Generation X | 7 (1965–1971) | #2 |
Every top-10 year
Questions people ask
When was the name Mary most popular?
By number of babies, in 1921, when 73,984 girls were given the name. By rank, it was #1 in 76 years and spent 92 years in the top 10.
What generation is the name Mary?
Its peak year, 1921, falls in Greatest Generation (1901–1927). Its 92 top-10 years fall in: before 1883 (3), Lost Generation (18), Greatest Generation (27), Silent Generation (18), Baby Boomers (19), Generation X (7).
How many people have been named Mary?
SSA counted 4,141,481 girls named Mary born from 1880 to 2025. That is births, not people alive today, and it misses many people born before 1937 who never applied for a Social Security card.
In the top 10 at the same time
Source: US Social Security Administration baby-name data, from Social Security card applications for births in the 50 states and the District of Columbia, 1880–2025. Many people born before 1937 never applied for a card, so early years undercount. Spellings are counted separately. We hold each year's top 10 in rank order and each name's peak-year and all-time counts, so the chart shows rank rather than births per year. This page gives no meaning or origin for the name and no estimate of how many people named Mary are alive today.