Head to head · Boys' names
Marshall vs Martin
#340 vs #335 in 2025 · both holding its place on the charts
Martin is a whisker ahead (#335 vs #340 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, Martin leads 4 measures of 6; Marshall 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: Marshall #167, Martin #50 — Martin higher
- 1890s: Marshall #166, Martin #62 — Martin higher
- 1900s: Marshall #174, Martin #75 — Martin higher
- 1910s: Marshall #167, Martin #78 — Martin higher
- 1920s: Marshall #179, Martin #81 — Martin higher
- 1930s: Marshall #187, Martin #89 — Martin higher
- 1940s: Marshall #176, Martin #87 — Martin higher
- 1950s: Marshall #218, Martin #78 — Martin higher
- 1960s: Marshall #272, Martin #72 — Martin higher
- 1970s: Marshall #287, Martin #115 — Martin higher
- 1980s: Marshall #273, Martin #123 — Martin higher
- 1990s: Marshall #319, Martin #140 — Martin higher
- 2000s: Marshall #382, Martin #202 — Martin higher
- 2010s: Marshall #344, Martin #268 — Martin higher
- 2020s: Marshall #375, Martin #304 — Martin higher
Martin stood higher in every recorded decade — 15 of 15.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Marshall | Martin |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #167 | #50 |
| 1890s | #166 | #62 |
| 1900s | #174 | #75 |
| 1910s | #167 | #78 |
| 1920s | #179 | #81 |
| 1930s | #187 | #89 |
| 1940s | #176 | #87 |
| 1950s | #218 | #78 |
| 1960s | #272 | #72 |
| 1970s | #287 | #115 |
| 1980s | #273 | #123 |
| 1990s | #319 | #140 |
| 2000s | #382 | #202 |
| 2010s | #344 | #268 |
| 2020s | #375 | #304 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Marshall
Not charting outside the US.
Martin
- France#34
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
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.
Martin
of Mars
The Latin name derives from the war god, in the ordinary Roman way of forming names from divine ones, and the reading is settled. The irony is not lost on anyone: the saint who made the name universal was a Roman soldier who refused to fight, on the grounds that he was a soldier of Christ, and was imprisoned as a coward before being let go.
A Latin name formed from the war god → A fourth-century soldier who refused to fight → One of the most widely observed feast days in Europe → Martin in continuous use in every European language
How it traveled
The goose story appears early and stuck. The feast falls on the eleventh of November, which in the northern European farming year is the point where the grazing ends, the animals that cannot be overwintered are killed, the salting begins and the new wine is ready.
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
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.
Martin
MAR-tin
Two syllables, stress on the first, in English. French drops the final n into a nasal vowel and puts the stress at the back, and Spanish puts it at the back with an accent to say so, so the same spelling is said three ways across Europe.
- Marty — The American softening, unisex and thoroughly mid-century in feel.
- Tino — The Spanish and Italian clipping, taken from the back and sounding nothing like the front.
- Mart — Blunt and flat, and common in Dutch and Estonian use as a full name.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Marshall if you want…
- a name on the way upup 26 places on the charts in five years
- a name that feels very nowMarshall is holding its place on the charts
Choose Martin if you want…
- a name holding steadyMartin is holding its place on the charts
- a name that charts abroad tooMartin is on the national lists of France
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 12% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 40% for Marshall
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
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.
Martin
Strengths
- It is used unchanged in more European languages than almost any other name.
- It is completely familiar, universally spellable and needs no explaining.
- It has an unbroken record of about seventeen hundred years.
To consider
- The stress falls differently in English, French and Spanish, which a bilingual family will notice.
- It is also an extremely common surname, which occasionally causes confusion on forms.
- The spelling is on the register for girls as well, in very small numbers.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Marshall
40%chance Marshall feels dated by 2040
Marshall sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
Martin
12%chance Martin feels dated by 2040
Martin has held the top-100 across 9 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
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 Marshall and Martin 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 Marshall and Martin?
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
- Victorian names ready for a second century
- Under the radar: quietly excellent picks
- Names that begin and end with the same letter
- all guides
Every list here names both Marshall and Martin — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Marshall or Martin — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Marshall or Martin?
- Martin, in 2025: Martin ranked #335 with 1,009 babies; Marshall ranked #340 with 977 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Marshall or Martin?
- Marshall. Over the last five years Marshall moved up 26 places; Martin moved down 42 places.
- Which is the older name, Marshall or Martin?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Marshall and Martin?
- About 64,000 people named Marshall are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 204,000 people named Martin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Marshalls or Martins in the classroom?
- Marshall will almost certainly be the only one in school. Martin 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
Keep playing
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