Martel
Masculine · “Old French martel”
Martel is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 1,696 boys against 10 girls since 1880.
Charles Martel was the Hammer. He stopped the Arab advance into Francia near Tours in 732, ruled without taking the title of king, and his son Pepin and grandson Charlemagne finished what he started. The nickname is the name.
How old is the name Martel?
Martel first appears in US birth records in 1920 — 105 years ago. The typical Martel alive today was born around 1992, making them about 33 years old. About 1,600 people named Martel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Martel most popular?
Martel peaked in 1983, reaching #1144 nationally. Today it ranks #9714, 8,570 places below that high. See the whole 1983 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From martellus to Martel
The story of Martel
Charles was the illegitimate son of Pepin of Herstal and held the office of mayor of the palace, the effective ruler of the Frankish kingdom while the Merovingian kings did nothing. He fought his way to control of the whole realm, and in October 732 met an Umayyad force somewhere between Poitiers and Tours and defeated it, a battle later historians treated as the salvation of Christian Europe and modern ones read more modestly as one engagement in a long frontier war. He never claimed the crown. His son Pepin the Short deposed the last Merovingian in 751 with papal approval, and his grandson Charlemagne was crowned emperor in 800. The nickname Martel, the hammer, is recorded from the ninth century and became a family name across France and Norman England.
Meaning
Old French martel, a hammer
Martel is Old French for a hammer, from Latin martellus, a diminutive of marcus, a hammer. It was the byname of Charles Martel, mayor of the palace of the Franks, and became a surname in France and England. The name is unrelated to Martin, from Mars, despite the resemblance. The American peak is 1983.
How the name formed
- martellus
- martel
- Martel
Related forms: Martel · Martell
Pronouncing Martel
mar-TEL
Two syllables, stress on the second. French says the same. Martel and Martell are homophones.
Nicknames for Martel
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
- 1920
- Most boys named
- 199172 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1144reached in 1983
- Change vs 2024
- −30.0%7 in 2025, from 10
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.
Martel in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Martel in French — same name
- Martell in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Michigan.
Martels among us
people named Martel are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 244,011 born in 2025 was named Martel
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Martel
- #9714
- Martel on the 2025 chart
- #910
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Martel went to 7 boys in 2025, but Martell is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 18, which makes it the 910th most-given boys’ name of the year — 8,804 places above the chart.
- Martell11
- Martel7
About 1 boy in 94,893 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 244,011 for Martel itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Hoyle test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Martel's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Hoyle climbed just as high around 1925, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Hoyle's path sketches the road Martel is walking now.
Martel 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
Martel beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Martel in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The stressed ending gives it a firm final beat.
- Six letters and two syllables, easy to say.
- It carries a specific and well-documented history.
- Martell is an equally common spelling.
- It is easily confused with Martin, which is unrelated.
- A cognac brand shares the name.
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Martel
Masculine · #9714 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Martels are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,600 people named Martel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Martel?
- Martel is one of 2 recorded spellings. Martell is the more common one — 11 births in 2025 against 7 for Martel.
- How popular is the name Martel in 2025?
- Martel ranks #9714 among US boy names in 2025, with 7 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Martel?
- About 1 in every 244,011 US boys born in 2025 was named Martel — 7 in all.
- Will my child share the name Martel with classmates?
- Martel will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Martel
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Vern#9714 · Abrahm#9714 · Sid#9714 · Hartwell#9714 · Kwan#9714 · Adrean#9714 · Chancey#9714 · Bob#9714
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Martel? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Martel and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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