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NameAlmanac

Marcus

Boys’ name Recorded 1880-2025

Marcus was given to 1,341 boys in 2025, #258 among boys’ names; 242,999 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).

An estimated 217,000 Americans named Marcus and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (90% of everyone recorded); the median is 36 years old and half are between 23 and 47.

Babies named Marcus each year, first recorded in 1880
Marcus, 1880-2025; highest in 1984.2k4k6k8k188019001920194019601980200020251984 peak: 6,060
Marcus, 1880-2025; highest in 1984.2k4k6k8k188019001920194019601980200020251984 peak: 6,060
Marcus, 1880-2025; highest in 1984.2k4k6k8k18801905193019551980200520251984 peak: 6,060
Marcus, 1880-2025; highest in 1984.2k4k6k8k18801930198020251984 peak: 6,060

Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).

Marcus or MarcosNames of the 1980sNames in Texas

Births of Marcus by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.

What does Marcus mean?

Wiktionary, English section

Marcus is “a male given name from Latin.”

Borrowing of Latin Marcus. Doublet of Mark.

/ˈmɑɹkəs/

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary, entry Marcus (English), CC BY‑SA 4.0. Quoted from the entry; text after a cross-reference to another sense is left out.

Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).

How popular is Marcus?

#258 among boys’ names, 2025

Marcus fell from #168 in 2015 to #258 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 1.3 to 0.79 per 1,000.

6,060 babies in 1984, the peak

Marcus peaked in 1984, when 6,060 babies were given it (5,996 boys, #57 among boys’ names). The 1,341 births of 2025 are 22% of that peak.

Marcus by year
YearBirthsRankPer 1,000 boys
20251,341#2580.79
20241,382#2560.80
20231,400#2500.82
20221,479#2350.85
20211,616#2280.92
20201,661#2261.0
20191,722#2181.0
20181,901#2091.0
20172,037#1941.1
20162,183#1831.2
Every recorded year (146)
YearBirthsRankPer 1,000 boys
20152,481#1681.3
20142,620#1571.4
20132,536#1591.3
20122,718#1491.4
20112,814#1451.5
20103,131#1301.6
20093,409#1231.7
20083,392#1251.7
20073,670#1171.8
20063,813#1121.9
20053,477#1161.7
20043,480#1161.8
20033,395#1191.7
20023,544#1061.8
20013,696#1041.9
20003,797#991.9
19993,867#982.0
19984,015#962.1
19974,183#932.2
19964,546#872.4
19954,647#812.4
19945,258#752.7
19935,063#742.6
19924,545#822.3
19915,069#762.5
19905,304#722.6
19895,395#672.7
19885,207#662.7
19874,950#672.7
19865,278#632.9
19855,586#613.0
19845,996#573.3
19835,637#583.1
19824,988#632.7
19814,510#672.5
19804,260#712.4
19794,048#762.4
19783,995#702.4
19773,846#722.3
19763,681#742.3
19753,969#682.5
19743,801#732.4
19733,714#722.4
19723,685#712.3
19714,410#652.5
19704,315#712.3
19692,212#1381.2
19681,538#1740.88
19671,472#1760.84
19661,266#1940.71
19651,373#1840.74
19641,351#2070.68
19631,322#2120.65
19621,372#2080.66
19611,313#2140.62
19601,326#2100.62
19591,210#2260.57
1958982#2510.46
19571,035#2400.48
19561,063#2250.50
1955974#2280.47
1954897#2350.44
1953725#2570.37
1952676#2630.35
1951576#2840.31
1950556#2830.31
1949464#3150.26
1948406#3330.23
1947392#3440.21
1946382#3320.24
1945280#3550.21
1944277#3610.20
1943282#3660.20
1942268#3710.19
1941265#3580.22
1940250#3630.22
1939226#3770.20
1938224#3750.20
1937226#3590.21
1936207#3820.20
1935226#3610.22
1934226#3610.22
1933239#3490.24
1932222#3770.21
1931225#3740.22
1930277#3340.25
1929248#3600.23
1928256#3640.23
1927279#3500.25
1926310#3250.28
1925312#3250.28
1924333#3170.29
1923320#3260.29
1922297#3430.27
1921353#3050.32
1920321#3260.30
1919287#3330.29
1918273#3490.27
1917283#3220.31
1916278#3120.31
1915307#2830.36
1914192#3320.29
1913172#3040.34
1912132#3280.31
191164#3410.28
191063#3140.32
190949#3300.30
190851#3090.33
190746#3160.31
190661#2530.46
190553#2720.40
190442#3050.33
190344#2850.37
190244#2860.36
190144#2620.41
190048#3030.32
189946#2490.43
189844#2710.36
189738#2970.34
189639#2990.33
189536#3020.31
189446#2590.40
189351#2450.45
189244#2720.36
189128#3210.28
189033#3010.30
188938#2720.34
188847#2580.39
188723#3490.23
188639#2730.35
188544#2500.41
188457#2200.50
188338#2710.36
188246#2530.40
188145#2270.45
188047#2420.43

Download Marcus’s births by year (CSV)

Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.

Is Marcus a boy’s or a girl’s name?

Marcus has been given almost only to boys: 1,342 girls in 146 years of records.

Girls and boys named Marcus: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.

How many people are named Marcus, and how old are they?

217,000 alive in 2026, estimated

That is 90% of the 242,999 Americans ever recorded as Marcus. The median Marcus alive today is 36 years old; half are between 23 and 47.

The 2020 Census counted 184,054 people named Marcus (395 women and girls, 183,659 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 214,202 born in the U.S. The Census count is 14% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.

Alive today, by age

100-1095
90-99155
80-89914
70-794,180
60-699,690
50-5929,000
40-4944,800
30-39 (median)47,900
20-2936,500
10-1928,700
0-914,400

Alive today, by generation

By generation
GenerationBornAlive
Silent Generation1928-1945891
Baby Boomers1946-196412,000
Generation X1965-198046,500
Millennials1981-199678,400
Generation Z1997-201255,500
Generation Alpha2013-202524,200

An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.

Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).

Where are babies named Marcus born?

The states with the most babies named Marcus are Texas, California and Illinois, with 25% of its births recorded by state since 1910.

States with the most births: girls and boys together; rank among boys’ names in the state in 2025
StateSince 1910Rank, boysvs. national
Texas23,746#2801.2×
California23,444#2180.8×
Illinois12,025#3041.0×
New York11,783#2690.7×
Florida11,692#2531.1×
Georgia11,390#3001.6×
Ohio9,585#2930.9×
Michigan8,703#2431.0×
North Carolina8,547#3681.3×
Alabama7,306#3311.8×

Where Marcus is more common than its national share predicts

Relative to its national share, Marcus is most over-represented in Mississippi: since 1910 it was given 2.3 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.

Mississippi2.25×
District of Columbia2.03×
Alabama1.76×
Georgia1.63×
Arkansas1.47×
Louisiana1.38×
Tennessee1.35×
South Carolina1.31×

Bars start at 1× (as often as the national share predicts).

States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Marcus with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.

Names spelled alike

Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 314,223 babies since 1880, Marcus is the most given (77% of them). In 2025 it was given to 1,341 of their 2,089 babies (64%), again the most given.

Marcus and the names spelled alike
NameSince 1880Births 2025Peak year
Marcus242,9991,3411984
Marcos53,7425792001
Markus14,9471441994
Markos1,040182008
Markis91171990
Marcas239under 51980
Markcus192under 51989
Markes153under 51994

Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.

Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Marcus

Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.

NameRecorded1880-2025
Aaron618,857
Matthew1,659,655
Derick19,810
Demetrius37,791
Bryant51,934
Terrell38,087

Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.

More about Marcus and names like it

  1. Compare Marcus and MarcosBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
  2. The most given names of the 1980sMarcus peaked in 1984.
  3. Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Marcus since 1910.
  4. Latin namesWiktionary’s origin for Marcus: every such name, by how often it is given.
  5. The top names of 1984The year the most babies were named Marcus.
  6. The names of the MillennialsMost people named Marcus alive today were born 1981-1996.
  7. Names starting with MMost given first.

Compare Marcus with another name