Marquel
A masculine name derived from the French, meaning "marker of land".
Name Census estimates that about 2,874 living Americans carry the first name Marquel. It is a predominantly male name (91.6% of registrations). The average person named Marquel today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marquel births was 1995 (139 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marquel. 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
2.9K
~ 1 in 119,260 Americans
Peak year
1995
139 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,332
Tracked since 1968
Census
Marquel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,157 people with the first name Marquel, which placed it at #7,147 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
#7,147
National first-name rank
People counted
2.2K
2,157 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
79.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Marquel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marquel is Black at 79.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (7.6%) and White (6.0%). 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 Marquel 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 Marquel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American79.3% · 1,710
- Two or more races7.6% · 164
- White6.0% · 130
- Hispanic or Latino4.8% · 103
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.9% · 42
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 8
Gender
Gender distribution for Marquel
Marquel leans heavily male at 91.6% of total registrations, but 248 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Marquel as a male name
- Ranked #6,332 in 2024
- 14 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1995 (121 births)
Marquel as a female name
- Ranked #18,845 in 2010
- 5 female births in 2010
- Peak: 1995 (18 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Marquel leans strongly male. 1,897 people counted with this name were male (87.8%), compared with 263 female bearers (12.2%).
Popularity
Marquel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marquel from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 1,138 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Marquel 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 Marquel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Marquels live
The SSA's state-level files cover 19 states and territories. Florida, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Marquel, while Wisconsin, New Jersey, District of Columbia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 52 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Marquel
The name Marquel finds its origins in the French language, derived from the Latin name Marcus, which itself stems from the Roman god of war, Mars. The earliest recorded use of the name Marquel dates back to the 12th century in France, where it was a variation of the more common Marc or Marcel.
In the Middle Ages, Marquel was a relatively uncommon name, but it did appear in several historical records and chronicles of the time. One notable bearer of the name was Marquel de Villiers, a French knight who fought in the Third Crusade alongside Richard the Lionheart in the late 12th century.
As the centuries passed, the name Marquel continued to be used sporadically throughout Europe, particularly in France and the surrounding regions. One of the earliest documented instances of the name in literature can be found in the 16th-century French play "La Célestine" by Fernando de Rojas, where a character named Marquel is mentioned.
In the 17th century, Marquel Frère was a French mathematician and astronomer who made significant contributions to the field of celestial mechanics. His work on the motion of the moon and planets was highly influential in his time.
Moving into the 18th century, Marquel de la Tourette was a French nobleman and military officer who served in the Seven Years' War. He was known for his bravery and leadership on the battlefield.
In more recent times, one of the most notable bearers of the name Marquel was Marquel Bedfordshireton, an English artist and painter who lived during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His works, which often depicted scenes of rural life, are celebrated for their attention to detail and vivid use of color.
While not as common as some other names, Marquel has left its mark on various cultures and eras throughout history, from medieval knights and French mathematicians to acclaimed artists and military leaders. Its roots in the Latin name Marcus and the Roman god of war have given it a sense of strength and resilience that has persisted across the centuries.
People
Marquel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marquel 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
Marquel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marquel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,874 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marquel 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 119,260 US residents.
Is Marquel a common name?
We classify Marquel as "Rare". It ranks above 95% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,947 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marquel most popular?
The single biggest year for Marquel was 1995, when 139 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marquel is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Marquel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,157 people with the name Marquel, or 0.71 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,147 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 Marquel 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 Marquel?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Marquel leans strongly male. 1,897 people counted with this name were male (87.8%), compared with 263 female bearers (12.2%). 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 Marquel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marquel is Black at 79.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (7.6%) and White (6.0%). 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 Marquel most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Marquel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.3% (1,710 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 Marquel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Marquel a male name?
Yes, 91.6% of people registered as Marquel 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 Marquel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Marquel 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 Marquel 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 common is the name Marquel?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Marquel on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.