Mario
Masculine · “of the gens Maria”
Mario is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 151,310 boys against 1,093 girls since 1880. See Mario as a girl name
Mario is a Roman family name that has been in continuous use for two thousand years and, since the 1980s, the name of the most recognizable fictional character on earth. The second fact usually swamps the first. It is worth knowing that the character is named after a real man who was not a plumber, and that the name was already at its American peak before the game arrived.
How old is the name Mario?
Mario first appears in US birth records in 1897 — 128 years ago. The typical Mario alive today was born around 1986, making them about 39 years old. About 130,000 people named Mario are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Mario most popular?
Mario peaked in 1980, reaching #102 nationally. Today it ranks #438, 336 places below that high. See the whole 1980 chart.
Mario appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From Marius, a Roman clan name of unknown origin to Mario
The story of Mario
Nintendo's American staff were working in a rented warehouse near Seattle, and the character in their new arcade game had no name — the design documents called him Jumpman. The story their own people have told for decades is that the landlord turned up during a meeting to press them about the overdue rent, that his name was Mario Segale, and that the character was named after him half as a joke. Segale went back to his construction business and spent the rest of his life declining to make anything of it, saying he would rather be known for what he built. He is one of the few people who could have been famous and simply chose not to be.
Meaningscholars disagree
of the gens Maria, a Roman clan name
Mario descends from the Latin Marius, the name of a Roman clan rather than a word with a meaning. Attempts have been made to connect it to Mars, the god of war, and to an older Etruscan root, and neither can be demonstrated — Roman clan names are frequently older than the language that carried them. What Mario is not, despite the resemblance, is a masculine form of Maria. The two names arrive from different directions and only look like a pair in modern Italian.
How the name formed
- Marius, a Roman clan name of unknown origin
- Mario as the Italian and Spanish form
- carried to America with Italian migration
- an American peak at the start of the 1980s
- a video game character takes the name worldwide
Related forms: Marius · Mario · Marius · Mario
Pronouncing Mario
MAR-ee-oh
Three syllables with the stress at the front. Italian and Spanish speakers give the first vowel a purer sound and roll the r; the American reading is close enough that nobody is ever misunderstood.
Nicknames for Mario
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
- 1897
- Most boys named
- 19892,843 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #102reached in 1980
- Change vs 2022
- −20.1%721 in 2025, from 902
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.
Mario in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Marius in Latin — same name
- Mario in Spanish — same name
- Marius in French — same name
- Mario in Portuguese — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Marios among us
people named Mario are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 2,369 born in 2025 was named Mario
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Duane test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Mario's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Duane climbed just as high around 1933, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Duane's path sketches the road Mario is walking now.
Mario 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 Mario is headed
Mario 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.
Mario beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Mario in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is recognized instantly in English, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese without any change of spelling.
- The sound is warm and open, and the name has never been tied to a single generation.
- It carries a Roman history, an Italian-American one and a global one, and a child can pick whichever he likes.
- The video game character is the first association for everyone under fifty, and the jokes are unavoidable in childhood.
- It is stepping back from its American peak, so it will read as slightly of its parents' generation for a while.
- The meaning cannot be given honestly, because Roman clan names generally do not have one.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Mario to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Mario? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Mario
Masculine · #438 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Marios are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 130,000 people named Mario are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Mario in 2025?
- Mario ranks #438 among US boy names in 2025, with 721 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Mario?
- About 1 in every 2,369 US boys born in 2025 was named Mario — 721 in all.
- Will my child share the name Mario with classmates?
- Mario will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Mario
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Malik#437 · Jasai#439 · Sylas#440 · Moshe#435 · Sergio#441 · Frederick#435 · Travis#434 · Chance#442
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Mario? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Mario and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Or jump into a head-to-head
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
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
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle