Martinez
Masculine · “Latin Martinus”
Martinez is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 1,132 boys against 29 girls since 1880.
The English words chapel and chaplain come from a cloak. Martin of Tours cut his in half for a beggar, the surviving piece became a royal relic, and the little building that housed it was the cappella.
How old is the name Martinez?
Martinez first appears in US birth records in 1941 — 84 years ago. The typical Martinez alive today was born around 1987, making them about 38 years old. About 1,000 people named Martinez are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Martinez most popular?
Martinez peaked in 1975, reaching #1704 nationally. Today it ranks #10695, 8,991 places below that high. See the whole 1975 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Martinus to Martinez
The story of Martinez
Martin was a soldier in the Roman army who, according to his biographer Sulpicius Severus, cut his military cloak in two at the gates of Amiens to clothe a beggar, then dreamed that night of Christ wearing the half he had given away. He left the army, became bishop of Tours against his will, and died in 397. The remaining half of the cloak, the cappa, was kept by the Frankish kings as their most important relic and carried into battle; the priest who looked after it was the cappellanus, and the structure built to house it was the cappella. Those two words became chaplain and chapel in English. A pacifist saint named after the god of war thus supplied the vocabulary of Christian worship space.
Meaning
Latin Martinus, of Mars
Martinez is the Spanish patronymic surname meaning son of Martin, formed with the -ez ending. Martin is from Latin Martinus, derived from Mars, the god of war. The American peak of the given name is 1975.
How the name formed
- Martinus
- Martin
- Martinez
Related forms: Martinez · Martins · Martin
Pronouncing Martinez
mar-TEE-nez
Three syllables, stress on the second. Spanish writes an accent on the first e; American use generally drops it.
Nicknames for Martinez
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
- 1941
- Most boys named
- 199041 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1704reached in 1975
- Change vs 2022
- +20.0%6 in 2025, 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.
Martinez in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Martinez in Spanish — same name
- Martins in Portuguese — related form
- Martin in English — related form
Martinezs among us
people named Martinez are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 284,679 born in 2025 was named Martinez
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 Utah test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Martinez's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Utah climbed just as high around 1921, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Utah's path sketches the road Martinez is walking now.
Martinez 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
Martinez beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Martinez in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Martin and Marty are both available as shorter forms.
- The saint behind it is documented in a contemporary biography.
- Three syllables with a strong central stress.
- It is one of the most common Spanish surnames.
- The written accent is usually lost in American records.
- The 1975 peak dates its use as a given name.
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Martinez
Masculine · #10695 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Martinezs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Martinez are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Martinez in 2025?
- Martinez ranks #10695 among US boy names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Martinez?
- About 1 in every 284,679 US boys born in 2025 was named Martinez — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Martinez with classmates?
- Martinez will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Martinez
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Dudley#10695 · Dell#10695 · Buford#10695 · Toney#10695 · Allison#10695 · Candido#10695 · Jodie#10695 · Nora#10695
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Martinez? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Martinez and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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