Marcell
Feminine · “Of Mars”
Marcell is given to both — 1,126 girls and 4,862 boys since 1880. See Marcell as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Marcell doubles a final l that French leaves single, and the stress does not move. In English a doubled consonant at the end of a word usually pulls the weight onto the last syllable, which is where this name already has it, so the extra letter is confirming something rather than changing it.
How old is the name Marcell?
Marcell first appears in US birth records in 1912 — 113 years ago. The typical Marcell alive today was born around 1946, making them about 79 years old. About 600 people named Marcell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Marcell most popular?
Marcell peaked in 1923, reaching #1388 nationally. See the whole 1923 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Marcellus to Marcell
The story of Marcell
The name is on a hairstyle. A French hairdresser called Marcel Grateau worked out in the eighteen-seventies how to put a lasting wave into hair with heated tongs held the other way up from the usual method, producing deep even ripples that stayed for days; the technique was called the marcel wave, the verb to marcel entered English, and for fifty years it was what a great many women's hair looked like in photographs. Permanent waving eventually replaced it. The name of a working hairdresser from Chateaudun is in the dictionary as a verb, which is not a bad outcome.
Meaning
Of Mars, made small
Marcus, generally connected to the god of war, with a Latin diminutive on it. The name therefore dedicates a child to a deity and then makes the dedication small, which Roman naming did without embarrassment. Nothing in the doubled l changes the meaning.
How the name formed
- Marcellus
- Marcel
- Marcell
Related forms: Marcel · Marcello · Marcell
Pronouncing Marcell
mar-SELL
Two syllables with the stress at the back. The c before an e is soft, as it always is in English and French; the doubled l is standard in Hungarian, where this spelling is the ordinary form of the name.
Nicknames for Marcell
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1912
- Most girls named
- 192333 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1388reached in 1923
- Change vs 1995
- 0.0%6 in 1998, from 6
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Marcell in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Marcel in French — same name
- Marcello in Italian — same name
- Marcell in Hungarian — same name
Marcells among us
people named Marcell are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Marcell sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It is the standard Hungarian spelling as well as an American variant.
- Final stress gives the name a definite finish and makes it carry when called.
- Marc is a complete, established name sitting in the front half.
- The record carries it for girls in small numbers, so it is not quite an absolute signal.
- Marcel with one l is the French spelling and will be written instead.
- It is closely dated to the middle of the last century in American records.
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Marcell
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Marcells are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Marcell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Marcell in 2025?
- Marcell is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Marcell with classmates?
- Marcell will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More M names
The most-given names starting with M, all years combined.
Mary#125 · Margaret#112 · Michelle#465 · Melissa#419 · Maria#87 · Martha#712 · Marie#617 · Mildred#1962
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Marcell? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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