Marcus
Masculine · “of Mars”
Marcus is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 241,657 boys against 1,342 girls since 1880. See Marcus as a girl 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 was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Marcus alive today was born around 1989, making them about 36 years old. About 218,000 people named Marcus are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Marcus most popular?
Marcus peaked in 1984, reaching #57 nationally. Today it ranks #258, 201 places below that high. See the whole 1984 chart.
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 19845,996 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #57reached in 1984
- Change vs 2022
- −9.3%1,341 in 2025, from 1,479
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
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Marcuss among us
people named Marcus are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 1,274 born in 2025 was named Marcus
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Marcus
- #258
- Marcus on the 2025 chart
- #241
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Marcus went to 1,341 boys in 2025, but Markus is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 1,485, which makes it the 241st most-given boys’ name of the year — 17 places above the chart.
- Marcus1,341
- Markus144
About 1 boy in 1,150 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 1,274 for Marcus 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 Clifford test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Marcus's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Clifford climbed just as high around 1909, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Clifford's path sketches the road Marcus is walking now.
Marcus peaked long ago yet still holds steady — names that survive their own wave usually settle into quiet, durable classics.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Marcus is headed
Marcus should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High 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.
Marcus beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Marcus in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
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.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Marcus
Masculine · #258 in the U.S.
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 218,000 people named Marcus are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Marcus?
- Marcus is the most-used spelling in US records — 1,341 of the 1,485 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Markus.
- How popular is the name Marcus in 2025?
- Marcus ranks #258 among US boy names in 2025, with 1,341 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Marcus?
- About 1 in every 1,274 US boys born in 2025 was named Marcus — 1,341 in all.
- Will my child share the name Marcus with classmates?
- Marcus will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Marcus
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Xander#259 · Ayden#257 · Crew#256 · Omar#260 · Brandon#261 · Nash#255 · Emerson#254 · Paul#262
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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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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