Marquis
Masculine · “lord of the march”
Marquis is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 24,567 boys against 474 girls since 1880.
Marquis is a border lord. The title comes from the Germanic word for a march — a frontier province — and a marquis was the man who held one, which was a more dangerous job than a count's.
How old is the name Marquis?
Marquis was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Marquis alive today was born around 1994, making them about 31 years old. About 23,500 people named Marquis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Marquis most popular?
Marquis peaked in 1990, reaching #258 nationally. Today it ranks #1668, 1,410 places below that high. See the whole 1990 chart.
Marquis appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From marche to Marquis
The story of Marquis
The title marquis existed across medieval Europe — Markgraf in German, marqués in Spanish — and denoted the holder of a border province. Titles became American given names in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries alongside Earl, Duke and King. Marquis was taken up particularly in Black American families and rose sharply through the 1970s and 1980s, peaking around 1990.
Meaning
lord of the march, border ruler
From the Old French marchis, from marche, 'border province', which French took from a Germanic word — the same one behind the English 'march' in the sense of a frontier. A marquis ranked above a count precisely because a frontier command was harder to hold.
How the name formed
- marche
- marchis
- Marquis
Related forms: Marquis · Marqués · Markgraf · Marquise
Pronouncing Marquis
mar-KEES
Two syllables, stress on the second, in American use. The English title is said MAR-kwiss, which is a different sound.
Nicknames for Marquis
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
- 19901,037 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #258reached in 1990
- Change vs 2023
- −27.2%99 in 2025, from 136
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.
Marquis in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Marquis in French — same name
- Marqués in Spanish — related form
- Markgraf in German — related form
- Marquise in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Florida, Texas, Georgia.
Marquiss among us
people named Marquis are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 17,253 born in 2025 was named Marquis
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 Clay test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Marquis's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Clay climbed just as high around 1961, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Clay's path sketches the road Marquis is walking now.
Marquis 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 Marquis is headed
Marquis 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.
Marquis beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Marquis in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning names a real and specific office with a genuinely interesting rationale.
- The end stress gives it a strong rhythm against a front-stressed surname.
- It belongs to a coherent family of title-names with a long American history.
- The name and the English title are said differently, which causes confusion.
- It is a rank rather than a personal name in origin.
- It is closely dated to the 1980s and 1990s in American records.
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What they receive
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Marquis
Masculine · #1668 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Marquiss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 23,500 people named Marquis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Marquis in 2025?
- Marquis ranks #1668 among US boy names in 2025, with 99 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Marquis?
- About 1 in every 17,253 US boys born in 2025 was named Marquis — 99 in all.
- Will my child share the name Marquis with classmates?
- Marquis will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Marquis
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Namari#1668 · Mackenzie#1668 · Xaiden#1668 · Eydan#1668 · Aarush#1668 · Zaviyar#1668 · Sylvan#1668 · Deangelo#1668
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Marquis? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Marquis and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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