Marilyn

The name formed in English as an elaboration of Mary through the addition of the suffix -lyn. It remained scarce in the United States until musical comedy star Marilyn Miller popularized the stage name in the 1920s. American parents adopted the cadence during the 1930s as a fresh alternative to its root, lifting it to rank twenty-nine by 1947.

The name reads today as an organized committee treasurer who keeps an address book with pencil corrections. With over half of living bearers being baby boomers, it calls up matched casserole dishes and prompt thank-you notes. The typical bearer spent the nineteen-fifties learning long division rather than signing autographs. At an average age of sixty-nine, a Marilyn is far more likely to chair a civic board than cause a scene.