Marcelina
A feminine name of Latin origin meaning "little wondrous wanderer".
Name Census estimates that about 2,285 living Americans carry the first name Marcelina. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Marcelina today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marcelina births was 2024 (62 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marcelina. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Marcelina with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.3K
~ 1 in 150,002 Americans
Peak year
2024
62 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,757
Tracked since 1892
Census
Marcelina in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 7,195 people with the first name Marcelina, which placed it at #3,074 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#3,074
National first-name rank
People counted
7.2K
7,195 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
78.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Marcelina
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marcelina is Hispanic at 78.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (12.5%) and White (5.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Marcelina described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Marcelina at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino78.2% · 5,624
- Asian and Pacific Islander12.5% · 899
- White5.4% · 390
- Black or African American2.5% · 181
- Two or more races0.9% · 68
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 33
Popularity
Marcelina: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marcelina from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 379 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Marcelina remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Marcelina by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Marcelina during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Marcelinas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. Texas, California, New Mexico recorded the most babies named Marcelina, while Michigan, Hawaii, Arizona recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 196 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Marcelina
Marcelina is a feminine given name derived from the Latin name Marcellinus, which itself is a diminutive form of the Roman family name Marcellus. The name Marcellus is thought to be an Italic name, potentially stemming from the Roman god Mars or the Latin word "marcere," meaning "to be withered."
The name Marcelina likely originated in the early Christian era when Latin names were widespread across Europe. It was initially used as a feminine variant of the masculine name Marcellinus, which was borne by several early Christian saints and martyrs, including Saint Marcellinus, a 4th-century Pope and martyr.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Marcelina can be found in the 6th-century hagiography of Saint Marcelina, a Roman noblewoman and sister of Saint Ambrose, the famous bishop of Milan. She is revered as a saint in the Catholic Church for her piety and charitable works.
In the Middle Ages, the name Marcelina continued to be used in Catholic regions of Europe, particularly in Italy, Spain, and Portugal. Notable historical figures bearing this name include Marcelina Desbordes-Valmore (1786-1859), a French poet and playwright, and Marcelina de Aramburu y Almadóvar (1828-1901), a Spanish writer and feminist.
During the Renaissance and Early Modern periods, the name Marcelina gained popularity across Europe, especially in Catholic countries. One notable bearer was Marcelina Zawadzka (1631-1701), a Polish noble and landowner who founded several churches and monasteries.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the name Marcelina was still relatively common in parts of Europe, particularly in Spain, Italy, and Latin America. Some notable historical figures include Marcelina Gutiérrez (1844-1931), a Mexican educator and feminist activist, and Marcelina Dauden (1842-1914), a Spanish writer and journalist.
Throughout its history, the name Marcelina has been associated with themes of strength, resilience, and devotion, likely stemming from its early Christian origins and the lives of notable historical figures who bore the name.
People
Marcelina + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marcelina as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Marcelina: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marcelina?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,285 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marcelina going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 150,002 US residents.
Is Marcelina a common name?
We classify Marcelina as "Rare". It ranks above 94.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,360 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marcelina most popular?
The single biggest year for Marcelina was 2024, when 62 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marcelina is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Marcelina in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 7,195 people with the name Marcelina, or 2.38 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,074 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Marcelina in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Marcelina?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Marcelina appears almost entirely female. Of the 7,201 people counted with this name, 99.1% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Marcelina?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marcelina is Hispanic at 78.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (12.5%) and White (5.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Marcelina most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Marcelina in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.2% (5,624 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Marcelina in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Marcelina a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Marcelina in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Marcelina still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Marcelina in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Marcelina can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have Marcelina as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.