Marcus
Feminine · “of Mars”
Marcus is given to boys far more often — 241,657 boys against 1,342 girls since 1880. See Marcus as a boy name
Marcus was the least personal part of a Roman's name. A citizen carried three: a first name from a list so short it was abbreviated to single letters, a clan name that mattered, and a family name that distinguished his branch. The first was used by intimates and almost nobody else, which is a strange fate for the one that survived.
How old is the name Marcus?
Marcus first appears in US birth records in 1917 — 108 years ago. The typical Marcus alive today was born around 1981, making them about 44 years old. About 1,200 people named Marcus are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Marcus most popular?
Marcus peaked in 1983, reaching #1644 nationally. See the whole 1983 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From One of a very short list of Roman first names to Marcus
The story of Marcus
One bearer wrote a book he never meant anybody to see. He was an emperor on campaign, writing in Greek rather than his own language, addressing nobody, giving the thing no title, and repeating himself in the way people do in private notebooks: reminders to be patient, to expect ingratitude, to remember that everybody involved will shortly be dead. It survived by accident, was copied by Byzantine scholars, and reached print fifteen centuries later, where it became one of the few philosophical works that people read for their own use rather than for study. The private register is the whole reason: it is a man arguing with himself, not with a reader.
Meaning
of Mars
The name belongs to the god of war and the reading is settled, though what it meant to give a child that name in Rome is less obvious than it looks: the god was as much an agricultural deity as a military one, and the month named for him opened the campaigning season and the sowing season at once.
How the name formed
- One of a very short list of Roman first names
- Abbreviated to a single letter in inscriptions
- Carried by an emperor, an evangelist and a general
- In continuous English use since the Renaissance
Related forms: Marco · Marcos · Mark
Pronouncing Marcus
MAR-kus
Two syllables, stress on the first. Latin said it the same way; the ending is the standard masculine case ending, which English kept here and dropped from most other Roman names it borrowed.
Nicknames for Marcus
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
- 1917
- Most girls named
- 198666 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1644reached in 1983
- Change vs 2017
- 0.0%5 in 2022, from 5
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.
Marcus in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Marco in Italian — related form
- Marcos in Spanish — related form
- Mark in English — related form
Marcuss among us
people named Marcus 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
Marcus 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 has been in continuous use for well over two thousand years.
- Mark and Marc are both available as short forms and both stand alone.
- It works across English, Spanish, Italian and German alike.
- Marcus and Markus are both in use and will be exchanged in writing.
- The meaning is a war god, which some families weigh and most do not.
- The spelling appears on the register for both sexes in small numbers.
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What they receive
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Marcus
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Marcuss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,200 people named Marcus are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Marcus in 2025?
- Marcus is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Marcus with classmates?
- Marcus 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 Marcus? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Marcus and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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