Marquette
French name possibly meaning "one who belongs to the household guard".
Name Census estimates that about 1,798 living Americans carry the first name Marquette. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 66.2% of registrations being male. The average person named Marquette today is around 40 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marquette births was 1992 (68 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marquette. 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
1.8K
~ 1 in 190,631 Americans
Peak year
1992
68 babies that year
Average age
40
years old
2022 SSA rank
#10,470
Tracked since 1937
Census
Marquette in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,488 people with the first name Marquette, which placed it at #9,364 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
#9,364
National first-name rank
People counted
1.5K
1,488 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
80.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Marquette
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marquette is Black at 80.2%. The next largest groups are White (11.6%) and Two or More Races (4.3%). 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 Marquette 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 Marquette at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American80.2% · 1,193
- White11.6% · 172
- Two or more races4.3% · 64
- Hispanic or Latino2.8% · 41
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 14
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Marquette
Marquette is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 1,929 total registrations, 1,277 (66.2%) were male and 652 (33.8%) were female.
Marquette as a male name
- Ranked #10,470 in 2022
- 7 male births in 2022
- Peak: 1992 (50 births)
Marquette as a female name
- Ranked #12,951 in 2001
- 7 female births in 2001
- Peak: 1984 (34 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Marquette on both sides of the split. Of the 1,491 people counted with this name, 957 were male (64.2%) and 534 were female (35.8%).
Popularity
Marquette: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marquette from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 460 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
Marquette 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 Marquette during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Marquettes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. District of Columbia, Tennessee, Texas recorded the most babies named Marquette, while Maryland, Louisiana, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 21 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Marquette
The name Marquette originates from the French language and has its roots in the medieval period. It is derived from the Old French word "marque," which means "border" or "boundary." This name was likely first used to refer to someone who lived near a border or territorial boundary.
In the 12th century, the name Marquette appeared in historical records as a surname in the region of Normandy, France. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name was Jacques Marquette, a French Jesuit missionary and explorer who lived from 1637 to 1675. He is renowned for his exploration of the Mississippi River and for establishing missions among Native American tribes.
Another notable bearer of the name Marquette was Joseph Nicolas Delisle, also known as Joseph Nicolas Delisle de la Croyère, a French astronomer and cartographer who lived from 1688 to 1768. He was a member of the French Academy of Sciences and is known for his contributions to the mapping of North America.
In the 19th century, Marquette gained prominence as a given name, particularly in the United States. One of the earliest recorded individuals with the first name Marquette was Marquette Calvert, an American politician who served as the 21st Governor of Maryland from 1865 to 1869.
Another notable figure was Marquette Williams, an American actor and playwright who lived from 1847 to 1915. He was a prominent figure in the African American theater community and known for his performances in minstrel shows.
In more recent history, Marquette has been used as a given name for both men and women. One example is Marquette King, an American football punter who played for the Oakland Raiders and the Denver Broncos in the National Football League (NFL) from 2012 to 2018.
While the name Marquette has its roots in France and was initially used as a surname, it has evolved over centuries to become a distinct given name in its own right. Its association with notable historical figures and its unique sound have contributed to its enduring popularity.
People
Marquette + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marquette 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
Marquette: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marquette?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,798 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marquette 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 190,631 US residents.
Is Marquette a common name?
We classify Marquette as "Rare". It ranks above 93.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,929 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marquette most popular?
The single biggest year for Marquette was 1992, when 68 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marquette is about 40 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Marquette in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,488 people with the name Marquette, or 0.49 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,364 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 Marquette 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 Marquette?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Marquette on both sides of the split. Of the 1,491 people counted with this name, 957 were male (64.2%) and 534 were female (35.8%). 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 Marquette?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marquette is Black at 80.2%. The next largest groups are White (11.6%) and Two or More Races (4.3%). 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 Marquette most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Marquette in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.2% (1,193 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 Marquette in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Marquette a male name?
Yes, 66.2% of people registered as Marquette 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 Marquette still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Marquette 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 Marquette 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 Marquette as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.