Marlena is the Slavic and Latin American form of Marlene — itself a blend of *Maria + Magdalena*, both ultimately from the Hebrew *Miryam* ("beloved, bitter, star of the sea") + the place name Magdala. **A top-1000 US baby name through the 1970s-80s**. **Marlena Evans** — **iconic supermatriarch of NBC's daytime drama *Days of Our Lives* (1976-present), played by Deidre Hall across five decades — one of the longest single-role tenures by an actress on American daytime television; the Marlena/John Black (Drake Hogestyn) romance is among the most-followed daytime-soap couples in TV history**. **The 1995 "Marlena is possessed by the Devil" storyline became one of the highest-rated and most-discussed *Days of Our Lives* arcs**; cited in academic studies of supernatural elements in American soap opera. **Marlena Diamond** — American violinist. **Marlena Smalls** — American Gullah jazz singer; founder of the Hallelujah Singers. **Marlena Lewicki** — Polish-American businesswoman; American Express marketing executive. **Marlena Shaw (1942-2024)** — American jazz/R&B singer; "California Soul" (1969). The name is also a popular Hispanic-American spelling alongside Marlene and Marlén.
Featured throughout American daytime drama and jazz.
Marlena reduces to nine — the number of Days of Our Lives.