Its German name is Mertenlach, but this is no longer common,[citation needed] although still in regional use.

It was formed through the 1970 merger of Marly-le-Grand and Marly-le-Petit and the 1976 addition of the former municipality of Chésalles.

[4] Marly has an area, as of 2009[update], of 7.7 square kilometers (3.0 sq mi).

[5] The municipality is located in the Sarine district, 5 km (3.1 mi) south of Fribourg on the Gérine river.

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Gules a bar wavy Azure and overall a Knight statant armoured Argent holding a Pike in dexter and a Sword seafed on a Belt in sinister and in chief sinister three alder-tree leaves Or slipped conjoined.

The coat of arms was changed in 1991 to reflect the earlier mergers that formed Marly.

[9] Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks French (5,262 or 73.2%) as their first language, German is the second most common (1,243 or 17.3%) and Italian is the third (151 or 2.1%).

[9] The historical population is given in the following chart:[4][13] In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the SPS which received 33.1% of the vote.

[9] There were 3,601 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 45.5% of the workforce.

In the tertiary sector; 427 or 38.7% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 36 or 3.3% were in the movement and storage of goods, 65 or 5.9% were in a hotel or restaurant, 3 or 0.3% were in the information industry, 51 or 4.6% were the insurance or financial industry, 116 or 10.5% were technical professionals or scientists, 98 or 8.9% were in education and 195 or 17.7% were in health care.

[9] From the 2000 census[update], 5,289 or 73.6% were Roman Catholic, while 645 or 9.0% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church.

This is followed by three years of obligatory lower Secondary school where the students are separated according to ability and aptitude.

The upper Secondary school is divided into gymnasium (university preparatory) and vocational programs.

After they finish the upper Secondary program, students may choose to attend a Tertiary school or continue their apprenticeship.

[18] During the 2010–11 school year, there were a total of 1,096 students attending 56 classes in Marly.