Marcell
Masculine · “Of Mars”
Marcell is given to both — 4,862 boys and 1,126 girls since 1880. See Marcell as a girl 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 1993, making them about 32 years old. About 4,300 people named Marcell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Marcell most popular?
Marcell peaked in 1973, reaching #1006 nationally. Today it ranks #2363, 1,357 places below that high. See the whole 1973 chart.
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 boys named
- 1991105 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1006reached in 1973
- Change vs 2023
- +5.5%58 in 2025, from 55
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
Strongest US states over the last decade: Florida, California, Illinois.
Marcells among us
people named Marcell are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 29,450 born in 2025 was named Marcell
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Marcell
- #2363
- Marcell on the 2025 chart
- #539
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Marcell went to 58 boys in 2025, but Marcel and Marsel are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 439, which makes it the 539th most-given boys’ name of the year — 1,824 places above the chart.
- Marcel364
- Marcell58
- Marsel17
About 1 boy in 3,891 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 29,450 for Marcell itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Macario test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Marcell's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Macario climbed just as high around 1924, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Macario's path sketches the road Marcell is walking now.
Marcell 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.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Marcell is headed
Marcell should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Marcell beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Marcell in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
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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What they receive
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Marcell
Masculine · #2363 in the U.S.
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 4,300 people named Marcell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Marcell?
- Marcell is one of 3 recorded spellings. Marcel is the more common one — 364 births in 2025 against 58 for Marcell.
- How popular is the name Marcell in 2025?
- Marcell ranks #2363 among US boy names in 2025, with 58 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Marcell?
- About 1 in every 29,450 US boys born in 2025 was named Marcell — 58 in all.
- Will my child share the name Marcell with classmates?
- Marcell will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Marcell
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Javi#2363 · Zacchaeus#2363 · Pete#2363 · Herman#2363 · Clint#2363 · Lipa#2363 · Reuven#2363 · Kyngston#2363
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Marcell? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Marcell and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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