Marshall
Masculine · “Horse servant”
Marshall is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 97,447 boys against 1,157 girls since 1880. See Marshall as a girl 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 was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Marshall alive today was born around 1966, making them about 59 years old. About 64,000 people named Marshall are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Marshall most popular?
Marshall peaked in 1886, reaching #131 nationally. Today it ranks #340, 209 places below that high. See the whole 1886 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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 19481,158 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #131reached in 1886
- Change vs 2022
- +16.3%977 in 2025, from 840
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
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Ohio.
Marshalls among us
people named Marshall are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 1,748 born in 2025 was named Marshall
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Marshall 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 Marshall is headed
Marshall 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.
Marshall beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Marshall in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
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
Masculine · #340 in the U.S.
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 64,000 people named Marshall are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Marshall in 2025?
- Marshall ranks #340 among US boy names in 2025, with 977 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Marshall?
- About 1 in every 1,748 US boys born in 2025 was named Marshall — 977 in all.
- Will my child share the name Marshall with classmates?
- Marshall will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Marshall
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Brian#339 · Cairo#341 · Jax#342 · Paxton#338 · Colin#343 · Gideon#337 · Bryan#336 · Wade#344
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Marshall? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Marshall and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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