Marshall
Feminine · “Horse servant”
Marshall is given to boys far more often — 97,447 boys against 1,157 girls since 1880. See Marshall as a boy name
A marshal started out looking after the horses. The word joins two Germanic elements meaning a horse and a servant, and over about five centuries the job climbed from the stable yard to the top of an army, so that the highest military rank in France and the man who mucks out share a word.
How old is the name Marshall?
Marshall first appears in US birth records in 1912 — 113 years ago. The typical Marshall alive today was born around 1962, making them about 63 years old. About 900 people named Marshall are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Marshall most popular?
Marshall peaked in 1950, reaching #2053 nationally. See the whole 1950 chart.
Where it comes from
From mareschal to Marshall
The story of Marshall
The American who made the surname a given name for a generation refused to promote himself. George Marshall ran the United States army through a world war, turned down the command of the invasion of Europe because the president said he was needed in Washington, and afterwards, as secretary of state, put his name to the reconstruction program for Europe. The naming was deliberate: the president is reported to have said that anything with his own name on it would be voted down by Congress and anything with Marshall's would pass, which turned out to be right. Marshall himself objected to the label and used it as little as possible.
Meaning
Horse servant
Old French mareschal, from Frankish marh, a horse, and skalk, a servant. The rise in status is documented at every stage: the marshal ran the stables, then the household cavalry, then the army, then the courts of chivalry. Nothing about the name describes a person; it records a job that changed out of all recognition.
How the name formed
- mareschal
- Marshal
- Marshall
Related forms: Marechal
Pronouncing Marshall
MAR-shul
Two syllables with the stress at the front. The second is reduced to nothing, which is why the doubled l at the end is doing no audible work; the rank is spelled with one l and the surname with two.
Nicknames for Marshall
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
- 1912
- Most girls named
- 195526 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2053reached in 1950
- Change vs 2021
- 0.0%5 in 2024, 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.
Marshall in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Marechal in French — related form
Marshalls among us
people named Marshall 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
Marshall 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
- The meaning is transparent once explained and the climb in status is a good story.
- It works for a child of either sex, which the record confirms.
- It has been in continuous American use since before the records begin.
- The record carries it for girls in small numbers, so it is not quite an absolute signal.
- It reads as a surname and as a rank before it reads as a first name.
- The single-l spelling is the rank and the double-l the name, and both get written.
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What they receive
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Marshall
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Marshalls are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Marshall are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Marshall in 2025?
- Marshall is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Marshall with classmates?
- Marshall 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 Marshall? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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