Head to head · Boys' names
Denver vs Marcos
#518 vs #516 in 2025 · both holding its place on the charts
Marcos is a whisker ahead (#516 vs #518 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, Marcos leads 4 measures of 6; Denver leads 2.
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: Denver #839, Marcos #1031 — Denver higher
- 1890s: Denver #773, Marcos — — Denver higher
- 1900s: Denver #678, Marcos #1077 — Denver higher
- 1910s: Denver #526, Marcos #1314 — Denver higher
- 1920s: Denver #457, Marcos #1035 — Denver higher
- 1930s: Denver #483, Marcos #1040 — Denver higher
- 1940s: Denver #513, Marcos #909 — Denver higher
- 1950s: Denver #645, Marcos #711 — Denver higher
- 1960s: Denver #764, Marcos #531 — Marcos higher
- 1970s: Denver #807, Marcos #367 — Marcos higher
- 1980s: Denver #904, Marcos #301 — Marcos higher
- 1990s: Denver #900, Marcos #250 — Marcos higher
- 2000s: Denver #1091, Marcos #250 — Marcos higher
- 2010s: Denver #985, Marcos #391 — Marcos higher
- 2020s: Denver #505, Marcos #489 — Marcos higher
Denver stood higher in 8 of 15 decades; Marcos has held the lead since the 1960s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Denver | Marcos |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #839 | #1031 |
| 1890s | #773 | — |
| 1900s | #678 | #1077 |
| 1910s | #526 | #1314 |
| 1920s | #457 | #1035 |
| 1930s | #483 | #1040 |
| 1940s | #513 | #909 |
| 1950s | #645 | #711 |
| 1960s | #764 | #531 |
| 1970s | #807 | #367 |
| 1980s | #904 | #301 |
| 1990s | #900 | #250 |
| 2000s | #1091 | #250 |
| 2010s | #985 | #391 |
| 2020s | #505 | #489 |
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
Denver
crossing or passage of the Danes
From Old English Dena (of the Danes) plus a word for a crossing or ford, describing the Norfolk village of Denver. The American city carries the surname of James W. Denver, governor of Kansas Territory, rather than the meaning directly.
Dena fær (Old English) → Denver (village in Norfolk) → Denver (English surname) → Denver (given name)
How it traveled
The oldest Denver is a place: a village in the Norfolk fens of eastern England, named for a crossing used by Danish settlers. English place names of that kind hardened into family names, and the surname Denver crossed the Atlantic with its bearers.
Marcos
From Latin Marcus, most often read as connected to Mars, the Roman god of war
The usual reading ties Marcus to the god Mars, giving a sense of 'dedicated to Mars.' A second line of scholarship points to the ordinary Latin noun marcus, a hammer. Roman personal names of that age are hard to pin down, and neither reading has fully won.
Marcus → Markos → Marcos
How it traveled
Marcus was one of a very short list of given names in wide Roman use, which is why it turns up so often in the classical record and why it outlasted the empire that produced it. Christianity carried it further: Mark the Evangelist, author of the second gospel and patron saint of Venice, gave the name a place in every European language that had a church calendar.
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
Denver
DEN-ver
Stress on the first syllable. The city means almost no American will hesitate over it, and English speakers elsewhere manage it without instruction.
- Den — The most direct short form, used informally at home and among friends.
- Denny — Informal; also stands alone as a given name and is more often heard as a short form of Dennis.
- Dev — Occasional playground shortening; also an independent name in its own right.
Marcos
MAR-kohs
Stress on the first syllable in both Spanish and English. Spanish speakers give the vowels a shorter, cleaner sound; English speakers tend to lengthen the second to 'kohss.' Either way the final s is pronounced.
- Marquitos — The standard Spanish diminutive, used within families rather than in formal settings.
- Marc — An informal clipping in English-speaking contexts; also a full given name in its own right in French and Catalan.
- Marco — Sometimes used interchangeably by friends and relatives, though it is separately a full given name in Italian and Spanish.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Denver if you want…
- a name on the way upup 8 places on the charts in five years
- a long American recordDenver was already in use when US records began in 1880
Choose Marcos if you want…
- a name holding steadyMarcos is holding its place on the charts
- a newer arrivalMarcos entered the US charts in 1888
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
Denver
Strengths
- One spelling, one pronunciation, and a city on every US map to anchor both — it will rarely need to be spelled out or repeated.
- A documented line running from a Norfolk village to an English surname to an American given name, rather than a recent invention.
- Given quietly and consistently across many generations, so it reads as neither dated nor newly minted.
To consider
- The city dominates the association. Expect a lifetime of people asking whether the family has Colorado ties, and the occasional question about the singer who took the city's name as his own.
- It leans toward boys without settling there. A girl named Denver will meet forms and teachers who assume otherwise — easily corrected, but it will recur.
- Denny, the friendliest short form, is more commonly attached to Dennis, so it may invite that name as a guess.
Marcos
Strengths
- One spelling in both English and Spanish, with no competing variants to correct — useful in a bilingual family.
- Instantly placeable through its close relatives Mark, Marco and Marcus, so almost no one hears it as unfamiliar.
- A documented record going back to Roman antiquity, and continuous presence on US birth records since the nineteenth century.
To consider
- Marcos, Marco and Marcus get swapped constantly, and he will likely spend a lifetime gently correcting the other two. The fix is easy but frequent.
- The final s makes English possessives clumsy — Marcos's book — and some people will hear a plural where there isn't one.
- Marcos is also a common Spanish surname, including that of Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines, so the name occasionally reads as a last name on paper.
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 Denver and Marcos 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 Denver and Marcos?
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 these names appear on
- Borrowed from the girls: names boys are taking back
- Place names on the map and the birth certificate
- Names that begin and end with the same letter
- all guides
Where Denver and Marcos each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Denver or Marcos — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Denver or Marcos?
- Marcos, in 2025: Marcos ranked #516 with 579 babies; Denver ranked #518 with 578 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Denver or Marcos?
- Denver. Over the last five years Denver moved up 8 places; Marcos moved down 36 places.
- Which is the older name, Denver or Marcos?
- Denver was already in use when US records began in 1880; Marcos entered the US charts in 1888. On the American record, Denver is the older name.
- How many people are named Denver and Marcos?
- About 13,500 people named Denver are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 50,000 people named Marcos are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Denvers or Marcoss in the classroom?
- Denver will almost certainly be the only one in school. Marcos 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
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