Marcelyn
A feminine name derived from Marcellus, meaning "young warrior".
Name Census estimates that about 283 living Americans carry the first name Marcelyn. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Marcelyn today is around 67 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marcelyn births was 1928 (33 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marcelyn. 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
- • The typical person named Marcelyn is about 67 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Marcelyns were born before 1969.
People living today
283
~ 1 in 1,211,146 Americans
Peak year
1928
33 babies that year
Average age
67
years old
2021 SSA rank
#16,805
Tracked since 1915
Census
Marcelyn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 498 people with the first name Marcelyn, which placed it at #20,655 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
#20,655
National first-name rank
People counted
498
498 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
73.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Marcelyn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marcelyn is White at 73.3%. The next largest groups are Black (17.7%) and Hispanic (3.4%). 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 Marcelyn 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 Marcelyn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White73.3% · 365
- Black or African American17.7% · 88
- Hispanic or Latino3.4% · 17
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.6% · 13
- Two or more races2.4% · 12
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 3
Popularity
Marcelyn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marcelyn from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1930s, with 169 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1930s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Marcelyn 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 Marcelyn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Marcelyns live
Origin
Meaning and history of Marcelyn
The name Marcelyn is a variant of the French name Marceline, which is derived from the Roman name Marcellinus. Marcellinus is a diminutive form of the Latin name Marcellus, which is likely derived from the Roman gens (clan) name Marcius or the Latin word "marcere," meaning "to be withered or faded."
The name Marcellinus first appeared in historical records during the 3rd century AD, when it was borne by several early Christian martyrs, including Saint Marcellinus, who was Pope from 296 to 304 AD. It later became a popular name among early Christians and was widely used throughout the Roman Empire.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Marcelyn was Marcelyn of Rheims, a 6th-century French nun and abbess who founded the Abbey of Saint-Pierre-les-Dames in Rheims. She is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church.
In the 9th century, Marcelyn was the name of a Frankish noblewoman who was the wife of Count Rorico of Maine. She played a significant role in the political affairs of the region during the Carolingian dynasty.
During the Middle Ages, the name Marcelyn was also borne by Marcelyn of Avranches, a Norman nobleman and crusader who participated in the First Crusade in the late 11th century.
In the 13th century, Marcelyn de Aragon was a Spanish noble and courtier who served as a lady-in-waiting to Queen Violante of Aragon.
Another notable figure with the name Marcelyn was Marcelyn de Villamil, a 16th-century Spanish explorer and navigator who led several expeditions to the Americas and the Pacific Ocean.
While the name Marcelyn has its origins in ancient Rome and was used throughout Europe during the Middle Ages and Renaissance periods, it has remained relatively uncommon in modern times, particularly in English-speaking countries.
People
Marcelyn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marcelyn 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
Marcelyn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marcelyn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 283 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marcelyn 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 1,211,146 US residents.
Is Marcelyn a common name?
We classify Marcelyn as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 709 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marcelyn most popular?
The single biggest year for Marcelyn was 1928, when 33 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marcelyn is about 67 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Marcelyn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 498 people with the name Marcelyn, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,655 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 Marcelyn 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 Marcelyn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Marcelyn leans strongly female. 486 people counted with this name were female (97.8%), compared with 11 male bearers (2.2%). 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 Marcelyn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marcelyn is White at 73.3%. The next largest groups are Black (17.7%) and Hispanic (3.4%). 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 Marcelyn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Marcelyn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.3% (365 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 Marcelyn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Marcelyn a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Marcelyn 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 Marcelyn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Marcelyn 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 Marcelyn 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 are called Marcelyn?
See how many Americans are named Marcelyn on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.