Marcellia
Feminine form of the Latin name Marcellus, meaning "little warrior".
Name Census estimates that about 22 living Americans carry the first name Marcellia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Marcellia today is around 64 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marcellia births was 1924 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marcellia. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Marcellia. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
22
~ 1 in 15,579,743 Americans
Peak year
1924
6 babies that year
Average age
64
years old
1974 SSA rank
#8,297
Tracked since 1924
Census
Marcellia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 105 people with the first name Marcellia, which placed it at #52,717 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
#52,717
National first-name rank
People counted
105
105 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
47.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Marcellia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marcellia is White at 47.6%. The next largest groups are Black (28.6%) and Hispanic (11.4%). 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 Marcellia 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 Marcellia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White47.6% · 50
- Black or African American28.6% · 30
- Hispanic or Latino11.4% · 12
- Two or more races7.6% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native4.8% · 5
Popularity
Marcellia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marcellia from the 1920s through to the 1970s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 15 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1950s peak, Marcellia remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Marcellia 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 Marcellia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Marcellia
Marcellia is a feminine given name that originates from the Ancient Roman family name Marcellus. The name Marcellus is a diminutive form of the Latin name Marcus, which derives from the Roman god Mars, the god of war. The suffix "-ia" was commonly added to Roman names to create feminine versions.
The name Marcellus can be traced back to the 4th century BC, when it was borne by members of the prestigious Claudian family in Ancient Rome. One of the earliest recorded individuals with this name was Marcus Claudius Marcellus, a Roman consul and general who lived from around 268 BC to 208 BC. He achieved fame for his military victories during the Second Punic War against Carthage.
In the Christian tradition, Marcellina was a 4th-century saint and the sister of St. Ambrose, the Bishop of Milan. She is venerated as the patron saint of the poor and destitute. The name Marcellina is a variant of Marcellia, with the same root origin.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Marcellia can be found in the 6th century AD, when a woman named Marcellia was mentioned in the writings of Gregory of Tours, a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Marcellia. These include Marcellia Sembrich (1858-1935), a Polish operatic soprano who performed in operas composed by Verdi and Puccini. Another notable Marcellia was Marcellia Stringer (1909-1988), an American psychologist and educator who worked to promote diversity and inclusion in higher education.
Other historical figures with the name Marcellia include Marcellia Bolivar (1825-1900), a Venezuelan writer and poet; Marcellia Araújo (1859-1939), a Brazilian educator and feminist; and Marcellia Menaguale (1887-1964), an Italian-American labor activist and community organizer in New York City.
People
Marcellia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marcellia 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
Marcellia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marcellia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 22 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marcellia 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 15,579,743 US residents.
Is Marcellia a common name?
We classify Marcellia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 41.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 37 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marcellia most popular?
The single biggest year for Marcellia was 1924, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marcellia is about 64 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Marcellia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 105 people with the name Marcellia, or 0.03 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #52,717 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 Marcellia 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 Marcellia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Marcellia appears almost entirely female. Of the 105 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Marcellia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marcellia is White at 47.6%. The next largest groups are Black (28.6%) and Hispanic (11.4%). 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 Marcellia most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Marcellia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 47.6% (50 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 Marcellia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Marcellia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Marcellia 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 Marcellia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Marcellia 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 Marcellia 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 share the name Marcellia?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.