Fun Facts About the Name Marleigh
- More than 6 thousand babies named Marleigh: U.S. records list 6,105 babies given the name Marleigh from 1880 through 2025.
What Does the Name Marleigh Mean?
Marleigh is a modern spelling of the English name Marley and means "horse clearing," from Old English mearh (horse) and lēah (woodland clearing). The second element is the same lēah found in many English place names, and the -leigh ending is the spelling used in Ashleigh, Kayleigh, and similar names. Marley is first a surname, taken from more than one English village of that name, so the name may not have a single derivation; some explanations read particular Marleys as containing Old English (ge)mǣre "boundary" instead of mearh. The horse-clearing sense is the usual one, but the exact first element of an individual place name is not always certain.
Marleigh Name History & Origins
Marley began as an English surname, formed from one of several villages called Marley - among them places in Devon, Kent, and the West Riding of Yorkshire. Families bearing the surname are recorded in England from the Middle Ages, and the name traveled with English speakers to other countries. In Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol (1843), Jacob Marley is the dead business partner of Ebenezer Scrooge; that is a literary use of the surname, not evidence about the origin of the given name.
Marleigh belongs to a later stage, when surnames and place names were adopted as first names and often respelled. Its -leigh ending matches the Old English form of the second element and places it with Ashleigh, Hayleigh, Ryleigh, and Everleigh, spellings that became common in English-speaking countries in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Marleigh is used mainly for girls and is one of several spellings - Marley, Marlee, Marlie, Marli - that share the same pronunciation.
How Popular is the Name Marleigh?
Marleigh recorded its highest annual U.S. birth count in 2021. Its best rank was #690 in 2021.
U.S. name popularity from 1880-2025, based on SSA data. Rank shows how the name compares with other names - lower numbers mean greater popularity. Births shows how many babies received the name each year.
| Year | Rank | Births | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | #976 | 261 | 0.0162% |
| 2024 | #912 | 290 | 0.0180% |
| 2023 | #924 | 287 | 0.0179% |
| 2022 | #707 | 416 | 0.0254% |
| 2021 | #690 | 418 | 0.0255% |
| 2020 | #724 | 384 | 0.0238% |
| 2019 | #1,033 | 249 | 0.0148% |
| 2018 | #944 | 282 | 0.0166% |
| 2017 | #900 | 298 | 0.0173% |
| 2016 | #924 | 298 | 0.0168% |
| 2015 | #902 | 306 | 0.0171% |
| 2014 | #942 | 287 | 0.0161% |
| 2013 | #969 | 260 | 0.0148% |
| 2012 | #1,144 | 216 | 0.0123% |
| 2011 | #1,014 | 247 | 0.0140% |
| 2010 | #1,178 | 207 | 0.0116% |
| 2009 | #977 | 273 | 0.0149% |
| 2008 | #1,055 | 248 | 0.0131% |
| 2007 | #2,064 | 99 | 0.0051% |
| 2006 | #1,874 | 109 | 0.0057% |
| 2005 | #2,331 | 77 | 0.0042% |
| 2004 | #2,336 | 74 | 0.0040% |
| 2003 | #2,729 | 58 | 0.0032% |
| 2002 | #2,730 | 56 | 0.0031% |
| 2001 | #2,587 | 59 | 0.0033% |
| 2000 | #3,106 | 45 | 0.0025% |
| 1999 | #3,228 | 40 | 0.0023% |
| 1998 | #3,270 | 38 | 0.0022% |
| 1997 | #3,507 | 33 | 0.0019% |
| 1996 | #3,202 | 37 | 0.0021% |
| 1995 | #3,939 | 27 | 0.0015% |
| 1994 | #4,952 | 20 | 0.0011% |
| 1993 | #4,928 | 20 | 0.0011% |
| 1992 | #6,527 | 14 | 0.0008% |
| 1991 | #5,568 | 17 | 0.0009% |
| 1990 | #5,201 | 18 | 0.0009% |
| 1989 | #9,304 | 8 | 0.0004% |
| 1988 | #6,526 | 12 | 0.0007% |
| 1987 | #10,708 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 1986 | #12,074 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1985 | #10,133 | 6 | 0.0003% |
Name popularity over more than a century, based on Social Security Administration data. Gaps in the chart indicate years when the name does not appear in the published records.
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How the Name Marleigh Shapes Your Personality and Life?
You have psychic power. You can carry on for others with joy. You have a receptive nature and may bear burdens for others. You are pragmatic, thorough, strong-willed, practical and stubborn at times. You are hard working, often martyr to duty. You like home and security above all. You are bold, independent, inquisitive and interested in research. You know what you want and why you want it.
You are always looking for a chance to do your own thing, to be your own person, and to have things done your own way.
✦ Marleigh's Deeper Meaning & Tips for Parents Discover Marleigh's symbolic numbers and practical tips for choosing a name that complements your child's birth date.