Marcial
Of Latin origin, meaning "martial", "warlike", or related to the god Mars.
Name Census estimates that about 1,692 living Americans carry the first name Marcial. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Marcial today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marcial births was 1991 (45 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marcial. 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.
People living today
1.7K
~ 1 in 202,573 Americans
Peak year
1991
45 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,081
Tracked since 1911
Census
Marcial in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,472 people with the first name Marcial, which placed it at #4,250 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
#4,250
National first-name rank
People counted
4.5K
4,472 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
88.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Marcial
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marcial is Hispanic at 88.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (7.1%) and White (2.7%). 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 Marcial 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 Marcial at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino88.2% · 3,944
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.1% · 318
- White2.7% · 121
- Black or African American1.5% · 69
- Two or more races0.4% · 20
Popularity
Marcial: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marcial from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 336 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Marcial 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 Marcial during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Marcials live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Marcial, while New Jersey, Illinois, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 138 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Marcial
The name Marcial has its roots in ancient Rome, originating from the Latin word "Martialis," which means "of Mars" or "belonging to Mars." Mars was the Roman god of war, and the name was initially given to individuals associated with military service or those born under the astrological sign of Aries, which was also ruled by Mars.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Marcial can be found in the writings of the Roman poet and satirist Marcus Valerius Martialis, who lived from 40 to 104 AD. Martialis, which is the Latin form of Marcial, was his cognomen or family name, and it is believed that his ancestors may have been soldiers or held some association with the god Mars.
During the Middle Ages, the name Marcial gained popularity among Christians, particularly in Spain and Portugal, where it was often given to individuals born on or around the feast day of St. Martial, a 3rd-century bishop and evangelist who is considered the apostle of Aquitaine in France. Legends surrounding St. Martial's life and miracles contributed to the name's widespread use in these regions.
One of the earliest notable figures with the name Marcial was Marcial Avilés, a Spanish conquistador and explorer who accompanied Hernán Cortés in the conquest of Mexico in the early 16th century. Another prominent individual was Marcial Maciel, the controversial founder of the Legionaries of Christ, a Roman Catholic religious congregation, who was born in 1920 in Mexico.
In the realm of literature, Marcial Pombo was a renowned Colombian poet and journalist who lived from 1858 to 1925. His works, including the collection "Poemas" (Poems), made significant contributions to the literary landscape of his time.
Among athletes, Marcial Prado was a Chilean boxer who competed in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, where he won a silver medal in the lightweight division. He was born in 1939 and is considered one of Chile's greatest boxers.
Throughout history, the name Marcial has been carried by individuals from various walks of life, from military leaders and religious figures to writers, artists, and athletes. While its origins lie in ancient Roman mythology, the name has endured and adapted across different cultures and eras, reflecting its enduring appeal and historical significance.
People
Marcial + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marcial 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
Marcial: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marcial?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,692 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marcial 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 202,573 US residents.
Is Marcial a common name?
We classify Marcial as "Rare". It ranks above 93% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,993 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marcial most popular?
The single biggest year for Marcial was 1991, when 45 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marcial is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Marcial in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,472 people with the name Marcial, or 1.48 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,250 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 Marcial 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 Marcial?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Marcial leans strongly male. 4,411 people counted with this name were male (98.7%), compared with 59 female bearers (1.3%). 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 Marcial?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marcial is Hispanic at 88.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (7.1%) and White (2.7%). 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 Marcial most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Marcial in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.2% (3,944 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 Marcial in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Marcial a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Marcial 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 Marcial still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Marcial 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 Marcial 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 Marcial as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Marcial, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.