Marlin
A boys’ name of Old English origin, meaning lake bird or fish; a form of Merlin.
Marlin by the numbers
In 2025, 3 babies in England and Wales were named Marlin. In the US, 95 were, though that figure is from 2017, the most recent full year we hold.
For the size of the two countries, it is given several times more often in the US than in England and Wales.
Its American peak was 386 babies in 1935, so it is a 1930s name that has since fallen a long way.
Spelled almost the same
Other names in the records within a letter or two of Marlin. Close spellings are not always related names, but they are usually worth seeing together.
- Martinof mars; warlike1,276 in the US (2017)
- Marvinfamous friend483 in the US (2017)
- Marlonlittle hammer; a form of Marlon290 in the US (2017)
- Marinof the sea; from marinus171 in the US (2017)
- Merlinsea fortress or bright sea14 in England and Wales (2025)
- Maclinson of the fair one; a form of MacLean28 in the US (2017)
Other names that mean a bird
Like Marlin, each of these has a bird in its meaning. Different names, different histories, the same idea.
- Gavinwhite hawk4,134 in the US (2017)
- Jonahdove2,523 in the US (2017)
- Remingtonraven settlement; from the raven farm2,251 in the US (2017)
- Phoenixmythical bird that rises from ashes2,184 in the US (2017)
- Corbinraven; from corvus1,434 in the US (2017)
- Jaya form of names beginning with J; also the bird856 in the US (2017)
Names about as common as Marlin
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