Marcelle
A feminine form of Marcus, a name with Latin origins meaning "warlike".
Name Census estimates that about 2,856 living Americans carry the first name Marcelle. It is a predominantly female name (91.5% of registrations). The average person named Marcelle today is around 52 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marcelle births was 1920 (183 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marcelle. 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 Marcelle with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.9K
~ 1 in 120,012 Americans
Peak year
1920
183 babies that year
Average age
52
years old
2022 SSA rank
#10,745
Tracked since 1894
Census
Marcelle in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,518 people with the first name Marcelle, which placed it at #4,218 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
#4,218
National first-name rank
People counted
4.5K
4,518 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
64.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Marcelle
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marcelle is White at 64.5%. The next largest groups are Black (23.3%) and Hispanic (6.1%). 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 Marcelle 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 Marcelle at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White64.5% · 2,915
- Black or African American23.3% · 1,051
- Hispanic or Latino6.1% · 277
- Two or more races3.5% · 158
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 90
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 27
Gender
Gender distribution for Marcelle
Marcelle leans heavily female at 91.5% of total registrations, but 502 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Marcelle as a male name
- Ranked #11,767 in 2022
- 6 male births in 2022
- Peak: 1974 (17 births)
Marcelle as a female name
- Ranked #10,745 in 2024
- 9 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1920 (177 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Marcelle leans strongly female. 4,092 people counted with this name were female (90.7%), compared with 422 male bearers (9.3%).
Popularity
Marcelle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marcelle from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 1,192 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Marcelle 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 Marcelle during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Marcelles live
The SSA's state-level files cover 29 states and territories. New York, California, Massachusetts recorded the most babies named Marcelle, while Mississippi, Missouri, Iowa recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 64 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Marcelle
The given name Marcelle has its origins in the Late Latin name Marcellus, which was derived from the Roman family name Marcellus. The name Marcellus is thought to have been a diminutive form of the name Marcus, meaning "dedicated to Mars," the Roman god of war.
Marcelle was initially more commonly used as a masculine name in its earlier forms, such as Marcellus and Marcel. The feminine form, Marcelle, gained popularity in France during the Middle Ages and was later adopted in other European countries.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Marcelle can be found in the medieval French epic poem "La Chanson de Roland" (The Song of Roland), which dates back to the 11th century. In the poem, a character named Marcelle is mentioned as a companion of the legendary knight Roland.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Marcelle. One of the most famous was Marcelle Nadia Ferrier (1909-1932), a French aviator who set several aviation records in the 1920s and 1930s. Another notable Marcelle was Marcelle Auclair (1899-1983), a French writer and feminist who wrote extensively on women's rights and social issues.
In the world of art, Marcelle Geber (1905-1985) was a French painter and sculptor known for her abstract expressionist works. Marcelle Crudère (1914-2004) was a French actress who appeared in numerous films and television shows throughout her career.
The name Marcelle has also been associated with religious figures, such as Marcelle Mallet (1805-1871), a French nun and founder of the Congregation of the Daughters of the Propagation of the Faith.
While the name Marcelle has its roots in French and Roman cultures, it has been adopted and used in various parts of the world, including other European countries, as well as in North and South America.
People
Marcelle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marcelle 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
Marcelle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marcelle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,856 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marcelle 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 120,012 US residents.
Is Marcelle a common name?
We classify Marcelle as "Rare". It ranks above 95% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,899 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marcelle most popular?
The single biggest year for Marcelle was 1920, when 183 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marcelle is about 52 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Marcelle in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,518 people with the name Marcelle, or 1.50 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,218 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 Marcelle 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 Marcelle?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Marcelle leans strongly female. 4,092 people counted with this name were female (90.7%), compared with 422 male bearers (9.3%). 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 Marcelle?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marcelle is White at 64.5%. The next largest groups are Black (23.3%) and Hispanic (6.1%). 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 Marcelle most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Marcelle in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.5% (2,915 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 Marcelle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Marcelle a female name?
Yes, 91.5% of people registered as Marcelle 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 Marcelle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Marcelle 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 Marcelle 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 Americans are named Marcelle?
You can see how many Americans are named Marcelle on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.