Marvis
Feminine
Marvis is given to both — 1,366 girls and 1,102 boys since 1880. See Marvis as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Marvis sits one letter away from an English word for a bird. A mavis is a song thrush, and the word has been in the language since the fourteenth century, borrowed from French and used steadily by poets long after ordinary speech had given it up in favor of the plainer name.
How old is the name Marvis?
Marvis first appears in US birth records in 1914 — 111 years ago. The typical Marvis alive today was born around 1939, making them about 86 years old. About 600 people named Marvis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Marvis most popular?
Marvis peaked in 1930, reaching #1181 nationally. See the whole 1930 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From A French word for the song thrush, borrowed early to Marvis
Our story of Marvis
English holds two layers of bird names and the split runs along the Conquest. The everyday birds kept their English words: thrush, sparrow, crow, wren, swallow, finch. The birds that mattered to a Norman aristocracy came in from French: falcon, heron, pheasant, partridge, eagle, plover. You can more or less read the social history off the vocabulary, the way you can with the animals in the field and the meat on the table. The song thrush ended up with one of each, an English name for the bird in the hedge and a French one for the bird in the poem, and the French one is the one that turned into a name for a person.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Two candidates and no way to decide. The name may be the bird word with an r inserted, or a man's name with an s substituted, and both operations are ordinary in the American registers. The bird word itself is French in origin and its further source is disputed. Nothing in the record settles which parent this spelling belongs to.
How the name formed
- A French word for the song thrush, borrowed early
- Kept in poetry after leaving ordinary speech
- Mavis taken up as a woman's name
- Marvis, with an r that may or may not be deliberate
Pronouncing Marvis
MAR-vis
Two syllables, stress on the first. The bird word is said MAY-vis, so the r is not silent decoration: it changes the vowel in front of it and makes this a different sound from the name it resembles.
Nicknames for Marvis
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
- 1914
- Most girls named
- 192443 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1181reached in 1930
- Change vs 1976
- −37.5%5 in 1978, from 8
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.
Marviss among us
people named Marvis 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
Marvis 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 sound is short, firm and immediately sayable.
- It works on the register for either child, which the record confirms.
- It carries a genuine and rather beautiful English word one letter away.
- Mavis and Marvin are both commoner and this will be read as one of them.
- No source can be given, because the two candidates are equally good.
- It is firmly of the earlier twentieth century.
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What they receive
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Marvis
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Marviss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Marvis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Marvis in 2025?
- Marvis is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Marvis with classmates?
- Marvis 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 Marvis? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Marvis and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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