Marcello
A masculine name of Italian origin meaning "young warrior".
Name Census estimates that about 5,890 living Americans carry the first name Marcello. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Marcello today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marcello births was 2024 (224 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marcello. 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 Marcello with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
5.9K
~ 1 in 58,193 Americans
Peak year
2024
224 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,002
Tracked since 1912
Census
Marcello in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,882 people with the first name Marcello, which placed it at #3,518 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
#3,518
National first-name rank
People counted
5.9K
5,882 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
42.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Marcello
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marcello is Hispanic at 42.6%. The next largest groups are White (42.2%) and Black (9.4%). 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 Marcello 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 Marcello at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino42.6% · 2,507
- White42.2% · 2,480
- Black or African American9.4% · 552
- Two or more races3.6% · 212
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 96
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 35
Gender
Gender distribution for Marcello
Out of the 6,352 babies given the name Marcello since 1880, 99.8% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Marcello as a male name
- Ranked #1,002 in 2024
- 224 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (224 births)
Marcello as a female name
- Ranked #8,786 in 1970
- 5 female births in 1970
- Peak: 1966 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Marcello leans strongly male. 5,820 people counted with this name were male (98.9%), compared with 64 female bearers (1.1%).
Popularity
Marcello: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marcello from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,556 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Marcello remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Marcello 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 Marcello during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Marcellos live
The SSA's state-level files cover 23 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Marcello, while Virginia, New Mexico, Nebraska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 165 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Marcello
The name Marcello has its origins in the Latin language and can be traced back to ancient Rome. It is derived from the Roman name Marcus, which was a common first name among the Romans. The name Marcus itself is thought to have originated from the Roman god Mars, the god of war.
During the Roman Empire, the name Marcellus was a fairly common name given to boys. It was a diminutive form of Marcus and was often used as a nickname or a term of endearment. In ancient Roman texts and historical records, there are mentions of several notable individuals who bore this name.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Marcellus was Marcus Claudius Marcellus, a Roman consul and military leader who lived from around 268 BC to 208 BC. He was known for his victories over the Carthaginians during the Second Punic War and was celebrated for his military prowess and strategic skills.
Another famous Marcellus in Roman history was Marcus Claudius Marcellus, a nephew of the Roman emperor Augustus, who lived from 42 BC to 23 BC. He was considered a promising young man and was heir apparent to the Roman throne, but he died at a young age, much to the sadness of Augustus.
In the Christian tradition, there was a Saint Marcellus who lived in the 4th century AD. He was a Roman soldier who was martyred for his Christian faith during the persecution of Christians under the Roman emperor Diocletian.
During the Renaissance period in Italy, the name Marcello became popular again, particularly among the noble and wealthy families of the time. One notable figure from this era was Marcello Malpighi, an Italian scientist and physician who lived from 1628 to 1694. He is considered the founder of modern microscopic anatomy and made significant contributions to the study of plant and animal anatomy.
Another famous Marcello was the Italian composer Benedetto Marcello, who lived from 1686 to 1739. He was a prominent figure in the Baroque era and is best known for his compositions for voice and instruments, including his settings of the biblical Psalms.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Marcello
People
Marcello + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marcello 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
Marcello: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marcello?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,890 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marcello 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 58,193 US residents.
Is Marcello a common name?
We classify Marcello as "Rare". It ranks above 96.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,352 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marcello most popular?
The single biggest year for Marcello was 2024, when 224 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marcello is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Marcello in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,882 people with the name Marcello, or 1.95 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,518 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 Marcello 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 Marcello?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Marcello leans strongly male. 5,820 people counted with this name were male (98.9%), compared with 64 female bearers (1.1%). 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 Marcello?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marcello is Hispanic at 42.6%. The next largest groups are White (42.2%) and Black (9.4%). 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 Marcello most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Marcello in the 2020 Census, accounting for 42.6% (2,507 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 Marcello in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Marcello a male name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Marcello in the SSA data are male. 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 Marcello still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Marcello 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 Marcello 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 Marcello as a first name?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Marcello at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.