Martell
Masculine · “Old French "hammer”
Martell is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 2,630 boys against 36 girls since 1880.
Martell is a nickname that became a surname that became a first name, and the nickname was earned in battle. Charles Martel, who stopped an Umayyad army near Tours in 732, was called the Hammer; Martel is Old French for hammer, and the extra l is the American spelling.
How old is the name Martell?
Martell first appears in US birth records in 1917 — 108 years ago. The typical Martell alive today was born around 1990, making them about 35 years old. About 2,400 people named Martell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Martell most popular?
Martell peaked in 1986, reaching #811 nationally. Today it ranks #7194, 6,383 places below that high. See the whole 1986 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From martellus to Martell
The story of Martell
The word traveled through three stages that can be dated. As a byname it belongs to the eighth century and to one man. As a hereditary surname it spread through Normandy and then, after 1066, through England and Ireland, where it survives as Martel and Martell. As an American given name it is later still, with figures rising in the 1970s and peaking in 1986. That last stage places it alongside Terrell, Darnell and Kendell rather than alongside French imports: the -ell ending was highly productive in American naming in exactly those decades, which means Martell arrives with a genuine medieval history and a thoroughly modern sound at the same time.
Meaning
Old French "hammer", as a byname
From Old French martel, a hammer, from Late Latin martellus, a diminutive of Latin marcus in the sense of a smith's hammer. It was applied to Charles, mayor of the palace of the Franks, as a personal byname for his conduct in war, and to others as an occupational surname for smiths. The doubled ll is not French; French keeps one l, as in the cognac house Martell, founded by a Jersey-born family in 1715.
How the name formed
- martellus
- Martel
- Martell
Related forms: Martel · Martello · Martel
Pronouncing Martell
mar-TELL
Two syllables with the stress on the second, which is the normal pattern for English names ending in -ell. The French surname is said mar-TEL with the same stress.
Nicknames for Martell
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
- 1917
- Most boys named
- 1985117 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #811reached in 1986
- Change vs 2023
- −15.4%11 in 2025, from 13
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.
Martell in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Martel in French — same name
- Martello in Italian — related form
- Martel in Spanish — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Illinois, Michigan, Ohio.
Martells among us
people named Martell are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 155,280 born in 2025 was named Martell
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Martell
- #7194
- Martell on the 2025 chart
- #910
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Martell went to 11 boys in 2025, but Martel 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 — 6,284 places above the chart.
- Martell11
- Martel7
About 1 boy in 94,893 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 155,280 for Martell 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 Lavon test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Martell's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Lavon climbed just as high around 1933, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Lavon's path sketches the road Martell is walking now.
Martell 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
Martell beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Martell in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It has a documented medieval meaning, which most names in its sound family do not.
- It is spelled the way it sounds and rarely misheard.
- Marty is an established short form with a long history.
- It is also a well-known cognac brand, which some people will think of first.
- The single-l French spelling is the historically correct one.
- The sound places it firmly in a 1980s American naming wave.
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What they receive
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Martell
Masculine · #7194 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Martells are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,400 people named Martell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Martell?
- Martell is the most-used spelling in US records — 11 of the 18 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Martel.
- How popular is the name Martell in 2025?
- Martell ranks #7194 among US boy names in 2025, with 11 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Martell?
- About 1 in every 155,280 US boys born in 2025 was named Martell — 11 in all.
- Will my child share the name Martell with classmates?
- Martell will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Martell
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Junius#7194 · Orie#7194 · Shade#7194 · Chesley#7194 · Joesph#7194 · Lofton#7194 · Macon#7194 · Benjiman#7194
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Martell? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Martell and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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