Marquise
A French feminine name derived from "marquis," meaning a noblewoman or the wife of a marquis.
Name Census estimates that about 10,686 living Americans carry the first name Marquise. It is a predominantly male name (96.4% of registrations). The average person named Marquise today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marquise births was 1995 (673 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marquise. 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 Marquise with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Marquise is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 392 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
11K
~ 1 in 32,075 Americans
Peak year
1995
673 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,351
Tracked since 1966
Census
Marquise in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 7,877 people with the first name Marquise, which placed it at #2,897 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
#2,897
National first-name rank
People counted
7.9K
7,877 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
85.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Marquise
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marquise is Black at 85.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.3%) and Hispanic (5.6%). 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 Marquise 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 Marquise at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American85.1% · 6,700
- Two or more races6.3% · 498
- Hispanic or Latino5.6% · 438
- White2.5% · 198
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 25
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.2% · 18
Gender
Gender distribution for Marquise
Marquise leans heavily male at 96.4% of total registrations, but 392 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Marquise as a male name
- Ranked #2,351 in 2024
- 60 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1995 (644 births)
Marquise as a female name
- Ranked #17,173 in 2002
- 5 female births in 2002
- Peak: 1989 (30 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Marquise leans strongly male. 7,505 people counted with this name were male (95.3%), compared with 368 female bearers (4.7%).
Popularity
Marquise: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marquise 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 4,871 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
Marquise 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 Marquise during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Marquises live
The SSA's state-level files cover 35 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Marquise, while New Mexico, Nevada, Kentucky recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 247 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Marquise
The name Marquise has its origins in the French language and culture, dating back to the 17th century. It is derived from the French word "marquis," which was a title of nobility used for a nobleman ranking below a duke and above a count. The feminine form of "marquis" is "marquise," which was used to refer to the wife or widow of a marquis.
The title of marquis was first introduced in France during the reign of King Louis XIV in the late 17th century. It was often bestowed upon members of the nobility who had distinguished themselves in military service or other noteworthy endeavors. The name Marquise, therefore, carried connotations of aristocracy, wealth, and prestige.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Marquise can be found in the writings of the French philosopher and mathematician René Descartes. In his correspondence from the 1640s, he mentions a woman named Marquise de Monceaux, who was a member of the French nobility and a patron of the arts.
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Marquise. One of the most famous was Marquise de Pompadour (1721-1764), who was the official chief mistress of King Louis XV of France. She was a prominent figure in the French court and had a significant influence on the arts, culture, and politics of her time.
Another prominent Marquise was Marquise de Merteuil, a fictional character from the 18th-century French novel "Les Liaisons dangereuses" by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. She was portrayed as a conniving and manipulative aristocrat who used her charm and wit to exploit those around her.
In the 19th century, Marquise de Blocqueville (1804-1889) was a French noblewoman and writer who published several works of fiction and memoirs. She was also known for her involvement in charitable organizations and her support for the arts.
More recently, Marquise de Cuevas (1920-2013) was a French socialite and fashion icon who was renowned for her glamorous lifestyle and lavish parties. She was married to the American businessman and art collector John Woodruff Simpson and was a prominent figure in the international high society circles of the mid-20th century.
While the name Marquise has its roots in the French aristocracy, it has since transcended its historical origins and is now used as a given name in various cultures around the world, often chosen for its air of sophistication and elegance.
People
Marquise + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marquise 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
Marquise: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marquise?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 10,686 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marquise 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 32,075 US residents.
Is Marquise a common name?
We classify Marquise as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 10,933 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marquise most popular?
The single biggest year for Marquise was 1995, when 673 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marquise 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 Marquise in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 7,877 people with the name Marquise, or 2.61 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,897 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 Marquise 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 Marquise?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Marquise leans strongly male. 7,505 people counted with this name were male (95.3%), compared with 368 female bearers (4.7%). 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 Marquise?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marquise is Black at 85.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.3%) and Hispanic (5.6%). 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 Marquise most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Marquise in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.1% (6,700 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 Marquise in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Marquise a male name?
Yes, 96.4% of people registered as Marquise 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 Marquise still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Marquise 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 Marquise 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 Americans are named Marquise?
You can see how many Americans are named Marquise on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.