Marlene (given name)

Marlene is a German feminine given name. It is derived from Maria combined with Magdalene. It was popularized by actress and singer Marlene Dietrich. It also came into wider use in the 1940s due to the popular song Lili Marlene. The traditional German pronunciation is mar-LAY-nuh. The North American English pronunciation of the name is mar-LEEN. Phonetic variants include Marlena and Marleen.

Usage
Marlene has been a well-used name throughout the Western world. In the United States, it was among the top 100 names for newborn girls between 1931 and 1942, was among the top 200 names between 1943 and 1959, and among the top 1,000 names between 1960 and 2012. It was a top 1,000 name for girls in France between 1933 and 2002. It ranked among the top 100 names given to girls in Austria between 1984 and 2021 and was a top 100 name for newborn girls in Germany between 2017 and 2022. It ranked among the top 1,000 names for girls in Brazil between 1930 and 2000.

Politics

 * Marlene Catterall, Canadian Member of Parliament 1988-2005
 * Marlene Cowling, Canadian Member of Parliament 1993-1997
 * Marlene Graham, member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta 1997-2004
 * Marlene Jennings, Canadian Member of Parliament, 1997-2011
 * Marlene Johnson, Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota 1983-1991
 * Marlene Lenz, German Member of the Bundestag and Member of the European Parliament

Academia

 * Marlene Belfort, who helped discover self-splicing introns in bacteriophage DNA
 * Marlene Dobkin de Rios (1939-2012), American cultural anthropologist, medical anthropologist, and psychotherapist
 * Marlene Scardamalia, education researcher
 * Marlene Zuk, evolutionary biologist

Sports

 * Marlene Hagge, American professional golfer
 * Marlene Ahrens, Chilean athlete
 * Marlene Elejarde, Cuban sprinter
 * Marlene Gerson (born 1940), South African tennis player
 * Marlène Harnois (born 1986), French taekwondo practitioner
 * Marlene Matthews, Australian Olympic sprinter
 * Marlene Slebsager, Danish cricketer
 * Marlene Streit, Canadian amateur golfer
 * Marlene Weingärtner, tennis player
 * Marlene Thomsen, Danish badminton player

Entertainment

 * Marlene Daudén, Filipina drama actress
 * Marlene Dietrich, German actress and entertainer
 * Marlene Warfield, American actress
 * Marlene Callahan, also known as Marlene Wallace
 * Marlene Charell, German entertainer
 * Marlene Enright, Irish singer
 * Marlene Janssen, American model
 * Marlène Jobert, French actress
 * Marlene Morreis, Austrian actress
 * Marlene Morrow, American model
 * Marlene Schmidt, Miss Universe in 1961
 * Marlene van Niekerk, writer
 * Marlene Favela, Mexican actress
 * Marlene, Brazilian singer

Arts

 * Marlene Neubauer-Woerner, German sculptor
 * Marlene Dumas, South African painter
 * Marlene Reidel, German artist

Others

 * Marlene (Burmese businesswoman), also known as Nang Kham Noung
 * Marlene Lehnberg, also known as The Scissor Murderess
 * Marlene Garcia-Esperat, murdered journalist

Fictional characters

 * Marlene (Final Fantasy VII)
 * Marlene, from The Last of Us video game series
 * Marlene Alraune, of the Marvel Universe
 * Marlene Griggs-Knope, from American comedy series Parks and Recreation
 * Marlene Kratz, from Australian soap opera Neighbours
 * Marlene Rush, from the Robotech Series
 * Marlene the otter, character in the animated TV show The Penguins of Madagascar
 * Marlene McKinnon, character in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series
 * Marlene Boyce, character in Only Fools and Horses and The Green Green Grass