Martel
Martel was given to 7 boys in 2025, #10,309 among boys’ names; 1,706 Americans have been recorded with it since 1920 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,600 Americans named Martel and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (94% of everyone recorded); the median is 34 years old and half are between 24 and 41.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Martel by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Martel?
#10,309 among boys’ names, 2025
Martel fell from #5,199 in 2015 to #10,309 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 9.4 to 4.1 per million.
72 babies in 1991, the peak
Martel peaked in 1991, when 72 boys were given it, #1,326 among boys’ names. The 7 births of 2025 are 10% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 7 | #10,309 | 4.1 |
| 2024 | 10 | #8,115 | 5.8 |
| 2023 | 9 | #8,675 | 5.3 |
| 2022 | 10 | #8,100 | 5.7 |
| 2021 | 13 | #6,549 | 7.4 |
| 2020 | 13 | #6,499 | 7.5 |
| 2019 | 9 | #8,629 | 5.0 |
| 2018 | 24 | #4,308 | 13.2 |
| 2017 | 23 | #4,413 | 12.4 |
| 2016 | 16 | #5,692 | 8.4 |
Every recorded year (71)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 18 | #5,199 | 9.4 |
| 2014 | 18 | #5,180 | 9.4 |
| 2013 | 11 | #7,361 | 5.8 |
| 2012 | 16 | #5,628 | 8.4 |
| 2011 | 16 | #5,581 | 8.4 |
| 2010 | 25 | #4,069 | 13.0 |
| 2009 | 23 | #4,376 | 11.6 |
| 2008 | 24 | #4,217 | 11.8 |
| 2007 | 21 | #4,590 | 10.1 |
| 2006 | 26 | #3,857 | 12.7 |
| 2005 | 23 | #4,007 | 11.5 |
| 2004 | 26 | #3,596 | 13.1 |
| 2003 | 19 | #4,366 | 9.6 |
| 2002 | 29 | #3,150 | 14.9 |
| 2001 | 27 | #3,284 | 13.9 |
| 2000 | 28 | #3,119 | 14.3 |
| 1999 | 33 | #2,651 | 17.2 |
| 1998 | 28 | #2,896 | 14.6 |
| 1997 | 36 | #2,329 | 19.1 |
| 1996 | 37 | #2,234 | 19.5 |
| 1995 | 54 | #1,670 | 28.4 |
| 1994 | 45 | #1,878 | 23.3 |
| 1993 | 63 | #1,480 | 32.1 |
| 1992 | 62 | #1,477 | 31.0 |
| 1991 | 72 | #1,326 | 35.6 |
| 1990 | 66 | #1,371 | 32.1 |
| 1989 | 71 | #1,296 | 35.5 |
| 1988 | 59 | #1,346 | 30.8 |
| 1987 | 56 | #1,331 | 30.0 |
| 1986 | 52 | #1,373 | 28.2 |
| 1985 | 65 | #1,164 | 35.2 |
| 1984 | 44 | #1,453 | 24.4 |
| 1983 | 62 | #1,151 | 34.6 |
| 1982 | 39 | #1,580 | 21.5 |
| 1981 | 26 | #2,070 | 14.5 |
| 1980 | 22 | #2,333 | 12.3 |
| 1979 | 17 | #2,734 | 9.9 |
| 1978 | 15 | #2,874 | 9.1 |
| 1977 | 11 | #3,511 | 6.7 |
| 1976 | 12 | #3,190 | 7.6 |
| 1975 | 9 | #3,828 | 5.8 |
| 1974 | 8 | #4,054 | 5.1 |
| 1973 | 8 | #3,936 | 5.1 |
| 1972 | 15 | #2,500 | 9.3 |
| 1971 | 12 | #2,917 | 6.8 |
| 1970 | 12 | #2,822 | 6.5 |
| 1969 | 10 | #2,987 | 5.6 |
| 1968 | 9 | #3,019 | 5.2 |
| 1967 | 7 | #3,442 | 4.0 |
| 1966 | 6 | #3,783 | 3.4 |
| 1964 | 5 | #4,414 | 2.5 |
| 1962 | 8 | #3,208 | 3.9 |
| 1960 | 5 | #4,398 | 2.3 |
| 1958 | 7 | #3,466 | 3.3 |
| 1956 | 5 | #4,281 | 2.4 |
| 1948 | 10 | #2,557 | 5.7 |
| 1944 | 6 | #3,328 | 4.4 |
| 1928 | 6 | #3,984 | 5.4 |
| 1926 | 6 | #4,027 | 5.4 |
| 1922 | 6 | #4,140 | 5.5 |
| 1920 | 5 | #4,713 | 4.7 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Martel a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Martel has been given almost only to boys: 10 girls in 71 years of records.
Girls and boys named Martel: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Martel, and how old are they?
1,600 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 94% of the 1,706 Americans ever recorded as Martel. The median Martel alive today is 34 years old; half are between 24 and 41.
The 2020 Census counted 1,519 people named Martel (115 women and girls, 1,404 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,564 born in the U.S. The Census count is 3% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 3 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 28 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 159 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 835 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 393 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 180 |
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 Martel born?
The states with the most babies named Martel are California, Michigan and Illinois, with 87% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 157 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Michigan | 131 | not ranked | 2.1× |
| Illinois | 127 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Ohio | 34 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Pennsylvania | 11 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Florida | 6 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Arkansas | 5 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Texas | 5 | not ranked | 0.0× |
Where Martel is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Martel is most over-represented in Michigan: since 1920 it was given 2.1 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
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 Martel 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 2 names spelled alike, given to 4,372 babies since 1880, Martel is the second most given (39% of them).
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 Martel
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
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 Martel and names like it
- Compare Martel and MartellBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1990sMartel peaked in 1991.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Martel since 1910.
- The top names of 1991The year the most babies were named Martel.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Martel alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with MMost given first.