Head to head · Boys' names
Cairo vs Marshall
#341 vs #340 in 2025 · both holding its place on the charts
Marshall is a whisker ahead (#340 vs #341 in 2025) and both are holding its place on the charts. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Marshall leads 6 measures of 6; Cairo leads 0.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Cairo —, Marshall #167 — Marshall higher
- 1890s: Cairo —, Marshall #166 — Marshall higher
- 1900s: Cairo —, Marshall #174 — Marshall higher
- 1910s: Cairo —, Marshall #167 — Marshall higher
- 1920s: Cairo —, Marshall #179 — Marshall higher
- 1930s: Cairo —, Marshall #187 — Marshall higher
- 1940s: Cairo —, Marshall #176 — Marshall higher
- 1950s: Cairo —, Marshall #218 — Marshall higher
- 1960s: Cairo —, Marshall #272 — Marshall higher
- 1970s: Cairo #5355, Marshall #287 — Marshall higher
- 1980s: Cairo #6302, Marshall #273 — Marshall higher
- 1990s: Cairo #5913, Marshall #319 — Marshall higher
- 2000s: Cairo #3191, Marshall #382 — Marshall higher
- 2010s: Cairo #1133, Marshall #344 — Marshall higher
- 2020s: Cairo #334, Marshall #375 — Cairo higher
Marshall stood higher in 14 of 15 decades; Cairo took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Cairo | Marshall |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | — | #167 |
| 1890s | — | #166 |
| 1900s | — | #174 |
| 1910s | — | #167 |
| 1920s | — | #179 |
| 1930s | — | #187 |
| 1940s | — | #176 |
| 1950s | — | #218 |
| 1960s | — | #272 |
| 1970s | #5355 | #287 |
| 1980s | #6302 | #273 |
| 1990s | #5913 | #319 |
| 2000s | #3191 | #382 |
| 2010s | #1133 | #344 |
| 2020s | #334 | #375 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Cairo
the victorious, the vanquisher
From Arabic al-Qāhira, the feminine form of al-Qāhir, 'the conqueror' — a name applied to the planet Mars in medieval Arabic astronomy and given to the new Fatimid capital at its founding.
al-Qāhir → al-Qāhira → Cairo (Italian) → Cairo
How it traveled
The city was established in the tenth century by the Fatimid dynasty as a royal capital beside older settlements on the Nile, and named al-Qāhira. European merchants and travelers carried the word home, and it reached English through Italian as Cairo — which is why the English form looks nothing like the Arabic.
Marshall
Horse servant
Old French mareschal, from Frankish marh, a horse, and skalk, a servant. The rise in status is documented at every stage: the marshal ran the stables, then the household cavalry, then the army, then the courts of chivalry. Nothing about the name describes a person; it records a job that changed out of all recognition.
mareschal → Marshal → Marshall
How it traveled
The American who made the surname a given name for a generation refused to promote himself. George Marshall ran the United States army through a world war, turned down the command of the invasion of Europe because the president said he was needed in Washington, and afterwards, as secretary of state, put his name to the reconstruction program for Europe.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Cairo
KYE-roh
American English says the Egyptian capital KYE-roh, and that is the standard reading of the name. The Illinois and Georgia towns of the same spelling are pronounced KAY-roh, so an occasional correction is part of the deal.
- Cai — The most natural clipping; informal, and overlaps in sound with the independent given name Kai.
- Ro — Family-level nickname drawn from the second syllable; rarely used outside the household.
Marshall
MAR-shul
Two syllables with the stress at the front. The second is reduced to nothing, which is why the doubled l at the end is doing no audible work; the rank is spelled with one l and the surname with two.
- Marsh — The front closed off; it collides with an English word for wet ground.
- Mars — Built from the front consonants; brisk and it collides with a planet and a god.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Cairo if you want…
- a name holding steadyCairo is holding its place on the charts
- a newer arrivalCairo entered the US charts in 1979
Choose Marshall if you want…
- a name on the way upup 26 places on the charts in five years
- a long American recordMarshall was already in use when US records began in 1880
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Cairo
Strengths
- The spelling needs no explanation — it is a world capital, so people who have never met the name still know how to write it.
- A documented meaning that goes back to the city's tenth-century founding: 'the victorious'.
- Two syllables, ending on an open vowel, which sits easily beside most one-syllable surnames.
To consider
- It is still first and foremost a city, so expect the occasional question about whether there is a family connection to Egypt, and the occasional assumption that there is.
- Two live pronunciations exist in American English — KYE-roh for the capital, KAY-roh for the towns in Illinois and Georgia. Most people default to the first, but not all.
- The wave of children with this name is very new, so a boy named Cairo will meet few older namesakes and, in most schools, no classmate sharing it.
Marshall
Strengths
- The meaning is transparent once explained and the climb in status is a good story.
- It works for a child of either sex, which the record confirms.
- It has been in continuous American use since before the records begin.
To consider
- The record carries it for girls in small numbers, so it is not quite an absolute signal.
- It reads as a surname and as a rank before it reads as a first name.
- The single-l spelling is the rank and the double-l the name, and both get written.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Cairo and Marshall in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Cairo and Marshall?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Cairo and Marshall — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Cairo or Marshall — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Cairo or Marshall?
- Marshall, in 2025: Marshall ranked #340 with 977 babies; Cairo ranked #341 with 965 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Cairo or Marshall?
- Marshall. Over the last five years Cairo moved up 7 places; Marshall moved up 26 places.
- Which is the older name, Cairo or Marshall?
- Cairo entered the US charts in 1979; Marshall was already in use when US records began in 1880. On the American record, Marshall is the older name.
- How many people are named Cairo and Marshall?
- About 9,400 people named Cairo are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 64,000 people named Marshall are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Cairos or Marshalls in the classroom?
- Cairo will almost certainly be the only one in school. Marshall will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
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