Marquese
Masculine · “Frankish marka”
A marquess was a border commander. The title comes from the march, the frontier zone, and it outranks a count because guarding a border was more dangerous than governing an interior.
How old is the name Marquese?
Marquese first appears in US birth records in 1974 — 51 years ago. The typical Marquese alive today was born around 1998, making them about 27 years old. About 1,400 people named Marquese are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Marquese most popular?
Marquese peaked in 1991, reaching #1368 nationally. Today it ranks #10695, 9,327 places below that high. See the whole 1991 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From marka to Marquese
The story of Marquese
European titles are job descriptions worn smooth. A duke is a dux, a military leader; a count is a comes, a companion of the emperor; an earl is a jarl, a Norse chieftain; a marquess held a march, the militarised border of a kingdom, which is why the Welsh Marches and the Spanish Marches carry the word. American naming has taken the whole set and used them as given names, without irony and in large numbers: King, Prince, Duke, Earl, Baron, Duchess, Royal and Marquis all appear in the records, and Earl and King were once common enough to be unremarkable. It is a specifically American practice, essentially unknown in the countries that still have the titles, where using one as a name would read as a joke.
Meaning
Frankish marka, a border territory
Marquis is a noble title from Old French marchis, the ruler of a march or frontier district, from Germanic marka, a boundary. Marquese is an American spelling of the title used as a given name; the peak is 1991.
How the name formed
- marka
- marchis
- Marquis
- Marquese
Related forms: Marquis · Marquise · Marquis
Pronouncing Marquese
mar-KEES
Two syllables, stress on the second. The French marquis ends in a silent s; the American spellings write the sound that English gives it.
Nicknames for Marquese
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
- 1974
- Most boys named
- 199168 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1368reached in 1991
- Change vs 2024
- −14.3%6 in 2025, from 7
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.
Marquese in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Marquis in English — spelling variant
- Marquise in English — spelling variant
- Marquis in French — same name
Marqueses among us
people named Marquese are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 284,679 born in 2025 was named Marquese
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 Delores test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Marquese's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Delores climbed just as high around 1930, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Delores's path sketches the road Marquese is walking now.
Marquese 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
Marquese beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Marquese in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two syllables with a firm ending.
- The title behind it has a documented and specific meaning.
- Marq and Mark both work as short forms.
- Several spellings compete and none is standard.
- It is a title rather than a name in its country of origin.
- The 1991 peak dates this form.
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What they receive
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Marquese
Masculine · #10695 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Marqueses are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,400 people named Marquese are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Marquese in 2025?
- Marquese ranks #10695 among US boy names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Marquese?
- About 1 in every 284,679 US boys born in 2025 was named Marquese — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Marquese with classmates?
- Marquese will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Marquese
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
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Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Marquese? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Marquese and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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