Mariano
A masculine name of Italian/Spanish origin meaning "dedicated to the Virgin Mary".
Name Census estimates that about 8,052 living Americans carry the first name Mariano. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Mariano today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mariano births was 2022 (215 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mariano. 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 Mariano with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
8.1K
~ 1 in 42,568 Americans
Peak year
2022
215 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,151
Tracked since 1896
Census
Mariano in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 14,756 people with the first name Mariano, which placed it at #1,914 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
#1,914
National first-name rank
People counted
15K
14,756 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
84.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mariano
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mariano is Hispanic at 84.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (6.9%) and White (6.5%). 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 Mariano 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 Mariano at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino84.7% · 12,494
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.9% · 1,016
- White6.5% · 955
- Black or African American1.0% · 146
- Two or more races0.7% · 97
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 48
Popularity
Mariano: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mariano from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 1,686 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Mariano remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mariano 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 Mariano during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Marianos live
The SSA's state-level files cover 28 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Mariano, while Tennessee, South Carolina, Oklahoma recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 245 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Mariano
Mariano is a masculine given name with roots in Latin and Italian origins, dating back to ancient Roman times. It is derived from the Roman family name "Marianus," which itself comes from the Latin word "marinus," meaning "of the sea" or "marine."
The name gained popularity during the early Christian era, as it was borne by several notable saints and religious figures. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Saint Mariano, a 5th-century Spanish monk and hermit, who is venerated as the patron saint of Cuenca, Spain.
In the Middle Ages, the name Mariano was particularly common in Italy, where it was associated with the cult of the Virgin Mary. It was often given to children in honor of the Blessed Virgin, as "Mariano" can be interpreted as "belonging to Mary."
One of the most famous historical figures named Mariano was Mariano Taccola, an Italian engineer and inventor who lived in the 15th century. He is best known for his work on mechanical devices, including early designs for a mechanical clock and a carriage with paddle-wheel propulsion.
Another notable bearer of the name was Mariano Jose de Larra, a 19th-century Spanish romantic writer, playwright, and journalist. He was a prominent figure in the literary and political circles of his time and is considered one of the most influential Spanish authors of the Romantic period.
In the realm of music, Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo was a 19th-century Spanish painter and designer, best known for his pioneering work in the field of stage lighting and scenic design. His innovations in lighting techniques revolutionized theatre production and influenced many subsequent designers.
Another famous Mariano was Mariano Ospina Perez, a 19th-century Colombian lawyer and politician who served as the President of Colombia from 1857 to 1861. He was a prominent figure in the country's political landscape and played a significant role in shaping its constitutional and legal framework.
Finally, Mariano Azuela was a 20th-century Mexican author and physician, best known for his novel "Los de Abajo" (The Underdogs), which is considered a seminal work of the Mexican Revolution literature. His realistic portrayal of the struggles and hardships faced by the revolutionaries earned him critical acclaim and a prominent place in Mexican literary history.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Mariano
People
Mariano + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mariano 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
Mariano: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mariano?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 8,052 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mariano 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 42,568 US residents.
Is Mariano a common name?
We classify Mariano as "Rare". It ranks above 97.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 9,881 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mariano most popular?
The single biggest year for Mariano was 2022, when 215 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mariano is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mariano in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 14,756 people with the name Mariano, or 4.89 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,914 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 Mariano 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 Mariano?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mariano appears almost entirely male. Of the 14,757 people counted with this name, 99.2% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Mariano?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mariano is Hispanic at 84.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (6.9%) and White (6.5%). 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 Mariano most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Mariano in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.7% (12,494 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 Mariano in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mariano a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Mariano 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 Mariano still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mariano 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 Mariano 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 the name Mariano?
See how many people share the name Mariano on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.