Markos
A masculine name of Greek origin meaning "consecrated to the god Mars".
Name Census estimates that about 999 living Americans carry the first name Markos. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Markos today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Markos births was 2008 (41 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Markos. 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 Markos with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
999
~ 1 in 343,097 Americans
Peak year
2008
41 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,790
Tracked since 1965
Census
Markos in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,152 people with the first name Markos, which placed it at #11,247 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
#11,247
National first-name rank
People counted
1.2K
1,152 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
41.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Markos
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Markos is White at 41.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (37.3%) and Black (18.3%). 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 Markos 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 Markos at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White41.1% · 473
- Hispanic or Latino37.3% · 430
- Black or African American18.3% · 211
- Two or more races1.9% · 22
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 13
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 3
Popularity
Markos: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Markos from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 279 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Markos 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 Markos during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Markos' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Markos, while Florida, New York, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 30 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Markos
The name Markos has its origins in the ancient Greek language and culture, dating back to the Classical period around the 5th century BC. It is derived from the Greek name Markos, which in turn is derived from the Latin name Marcus, meaning "consecrated to the god Mars." Mars was the Roman god of war, and the name was likely given to male children in hopes of imbuing them with the strength and valor associated with this deity.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Markos can be found in the New Testament of the Bible, where it refers to John Mark, a companion of the apostles Peter and Paul. John Mark is believed to have authored the Gospel of Mark, one of the four canonical gospels in the Christian tradition.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Markos or its variations. One of the most prominent was Marcus Aurelius, the Roman emperor who ruled from 161 to 180 AD. He was known for his philosophical writings, particularly the "Meditations," which have influenced Western thought for centuries.
Another famous bearer of the name was Marco Polo, the renowned Venetian merchant and explorer who traveled to Asia in the 13th century. His accounts of his journeys along the Silk Road and his observations of the Mongol Empire influenced European perspectives on the East for generations.
In the realm of art and literature, the Italian painter and architect Marko Marulić (1450-1524) was a prominent figure of the Renaissance period. He is considered the founder of Renaissance literature in Croatia and is known for his epic poem "Judita."
The name Markos also holds significance in the Eastern Orthodox tradition, where it is associated with several saints and martyrs. One notable example is St. Mark the Evangelist, who is venerated as the founder of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Alexandria, Egypt.
Other historically significant individuals named Markos include Markos Vamvakaris (1905-1972), a celebrated Greek singer and bouzouki player who helped shape the rebetiko music genre, and Markos Moulitsas Zúniga (born 1971), an American political blogger and founder of the influential liberal blog Daily Kos.
People
Markos + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Markos 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
Markos: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Markos?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 999 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Markos 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 343,097 US residents.
Is Markos a common name?
We classify Markos as "Very Rare". It ranks above 90.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,022 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Markos most popular?
The single biggest year for Markos was 2008, when 41 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Markos is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Markos in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,152 people with the name Markos, or 0.38 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,247 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 Markos 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 Markos?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Markos appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,151 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Markos?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Markos is White at 41.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (37.3%) and Black (18.3%). 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 Markos most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Markos in the 2020 Census, accounting for 41.1% (473 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 Markos in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Markos a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Markos 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 Markos still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Markos 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 Markos 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 Markos?
You can see how many people share the name Markos on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.