Head to head · Boys' names
Marcos vs Mohamed
#516 vs #527 in 2025 · both holding its place on the charts
Marcos is a whisker ahead (#516 vs #527 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 5 measures of 6; Mohamed leads 1.
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: Marcos #1031, Mohamed — — Marcos higher
- 1900s: Marcos #1077, Mohamed — — Marcos higher
- 1910s: Marcos #1314, Mohamed — — Marcos higher
- 1920s: Marcos #1035, Mohamed — — Marcos higher
- 1930s: Marcos #1040, Mohamed — — Marcos higher
- 1940s: Marcos #909, Mohamed #3231 — Marcos higher
- 1950s: Marcos #711, Mohamed #3520 — Marcos higher
- 1960s: Marcos #531, Mohamed #3043 — Marcos higher
- 1970s: Marcos #367, Mohamed #2057 — Marcos higher
- 1980s: Marcos #301, Mohamed #894 — Marcos higher
- 1990s: Marcos #250, Mohamed #634 — Marcos higher
- 2000s: Marcos #250, Mohamed #478 — Marcos higher
- 2010s: Marcos #391, Mohamed #450 — Marcos higher
- 2020s: Marcos #489, Mohamed #546 — Marcos higher
Marcos stood higher in every recorded decade — 14 of 14.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Marcos | Mohamed |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #1031 | — |
| 1900s | #1077 | — |
| 1910s | #1314 | — |
| 1920s | #1035 | — |
| 1930s | #1040 | — |
| 1940s | #909 | #3231 |
| 1950s | #711 | #3520 |
| 1960s | #531 | #3043 |
| 1970s | #367 | #2057 |
| 1980s | #301 | #894 |
| 1990s | #250 | #634 |
| 2000s | #250 | #478 |
| 2010s | #391 | #450 |
| 2020s | #489 | #546 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Marcos
Not charting outside the US.
Mohamed
- France#21
- Canada#100
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
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.
Mohamed
praised, praiseworthy
From the Arabic root ḥ-m-d, to praise; muḥammad is the passive participle, "the praised one". The same root gives the related names Ahmad, Hamid and Mahmoud.
Muḥammad (Arabic محمد) → Mahomet (medieval European renderings) → Mohamed
How it traveled
The name belongs to Arabic and to the Prophet Muhammad, born in Mecca in the sixth century, after whom it spread wherever Islam did — Arabic-speaking lands first, then Persia, Turkey, the Indian subcontinent, the Horn of Africa, Southeast Asia and West Africa. Because Arabic script does not write short vowels, every language that borrowed the name had to choose how to spell it in Latin letters, and that is why Muhammad, Mohammed, Mohammad and Mohamed all exist as versions of the same word.
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
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.
Mohamed
moh-HAM-ed
In the US you will also hear MOH-ha-med and, closer to Arabic, muh-HAM-mad, with a doubled m. All are recognized as the same name; families usually settle on one and it sticks.
- Mo — The usual informal short form in English-speaking countries; also stands alone as a name and is shared with Maurice, Morris and Moses.
- Momo — Informal and affectionate, widely heard among French-speaking families and in the diaspora.
- Med — A clipped form used in North African and French contexts, mostly among friends and family.
- Hamada — An Egyptian familiar form, used within the family rather than in formal settings.
- Also Hamdi.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Marcos if you want…
- a name most people already know#516 in 2025, 579 babies that year
- a name holding steadyMarcos is holding its place on the charts
- a name with fewer syllablesMarcos is 2 syllables to Mohamed's 3
Choose Mohamed if you want…
- a name fewer children share#527 in 2025 — mohamed will almost certainly be the only one in school
- a name on the way upup 29 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itMohamed runs 3 syllables, Marcos 2
- plenty of nickname options5 recorded short forms — Mo, Momo and Med
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
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.
Mohamed
Strengths
- One of the most widely borne names in the world, so the spelling and sound are recognized across languages, scripts and continents.
- Mo is an established English short form, ready-made for playgrounds and workplaces without any explaining.
- Mohamed is the standard Latin-letter spelling in Egypt and the Maghreb and in French-speaking countries, which gives it a settled written home.
To consider
- Four spellings — Mohamed, Mohammed, Mohammad, Muhammad — are all in real use for the same name, so he will spend a lifetime confirming which one is his, and forms will sometimes come back wrong.
- Stress placement varies between English and Arabic speakers, and between one family and the next. Deciding early which pronunciation you will correct people towards makes it simpler later.
- The name is inseparable from the Prophet, which for many families is precisely the reason to give it; it also means the name carries public weight, and in some settings in the US it invites assumptions the child did not ask for.
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 Marcos and Mohamed 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
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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 Marcos and Mohamed — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Marcos or Mohamed — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Marcos or Mohamed?
- Marcos, in 2025: Marcos ranked #516 with 579 babies; Mohamed ranked #527 with 568 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Marcos or Mohamed?
- Mohamed. Over the last five years Marcos moved down 36 places; Mohamed moved up 29 places.
- Which is the older name, Marcos or Mohamed?
- Marcos entered the US charts in 1888; Mohamed entered the US charts in 1943. On the American record, Marcos is the older name.
- How many people are named Marcos and Mohamed?
- About 50,000 people named Marcos are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 19,000 people named Mohamed are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Marcoss or Mohameds in the classroom?
- Marcos will almost certainly be the only one in school. Mohamed will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
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