How Many People Are Named Marcel?
An estimated 16,625 people in the United States have the first name Marcel. It is predominantly male (95.2%). The average bearer is 34 years old, and Marcel peaked in popularity in 2022 with 417 births that year.
Below you will find a full statistical profile of Marcel as a first name in the United States, including gender data, a year-by-year popularity timeline going back to 1880, a decade breakdown, and state-by-state birth registrations. You can also check how many people share the full name Marcel paired with any surname.
Key Insights
- While Marcel is overwhelmingly male, 992 female births have been registered with this name since 1880.
Estimated Living Americans
16,625
About 1 in 20,617 people in the U.S.
Rarity
Uncommon
Predicted Gender
Male
95.2% confidence
Average Age
34
years old
Peak Year
2022
417 births
Total Registered
20,759
since 1880
Gender Distribution for Marcel
Marcel is predominantly male (95.2%), though 992 female births have been registered. It functions as a unisex name for a small percentage of bearers.
Marcel as a male name
Ranked #753 in 2024
339 male births in 2024
Peak: 2022 (417 births)
Marcel as a female name
Ranked #18,166 in 2015
5 female births in 2015
Peak: 1970 (32 births)
Marcel: Popularity Over Time
SSA records for Marcel span from the 1880s to the 2020s, covering 15 decades of naming data. The most popular decade for this name was the 2010s, when 2,874 babies were registered. While Marcel is less common than at its peak in the 2010s, it remains a well-established name with steady registrations.
Marcel by Decade
How has Marcel tracked across different eras? The table below groups all SSA birth registrations into 10-year periods, with separate male and female counts. The colored bar shows each decade's share relative to the peak.
| Decade | Total | Male | Female | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 10 | 10 | 0 | |
| 1890s | 24 | 24 | 0 | |
| 1900s | 62 | 62 | 0 | |
| 1910s | 671 | 646 | 25 | |
| 1920s | 1,360 | 1,281 | 79 | |
| 1930s | 914 | 877 | 37 | |
| 1940s | 820 | 757 | 63 | |
| 1950s | 1,205 | 1,035 | 170 | |
| 1960s | 1,696 | 1,451 | 245 | |
| 1970s | 1,882 | 1,718 | 164 | |
| 1980s | 2,226 | 2,139 | 87 | |
| 1990s | 2,868 | 2,793 | 75 | |
| 2000s | 2,290 | 2,253 | 37 | |
| 2010s | 2,874 | 2,864 | 10 | |
| 2020s | 1,857 | 1,857 | 0 | |
Marcel by State
Birth registrations for Marcel span all 40 states and territories in the SSA database. The highest counts are in California, New York, Illinois. The lowest are in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Oregon. On average, about 373 Marcels were registered per state.
Marcel + Last Name Combinations
How many people share a full name with Marcel as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Names Similar to Marcel
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
Marcel: Questions and Answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marcel?
We estimate approximately 16,625 people named Marcel are alive in the United States today. This is based on SSA birth records from 1880 to 2024, adjusted for mortality using CDC life tables. About 1 in 20,617 Americans share this first name.
Is Marcel a common name?
Marcel is classified as "Uncommon" and is more popular than 98.3% of all first names in the SSA database. A total of 20,759 births have been registered with this name since 1880.
When was Marcel most popular?
Marcel reached peak popularity in 2022, when 417 babies were given this name. The average age of a living person named Marcel is approximately 34 years old, reflecting when the name was most commonly given.
Is Marcel a male name?
Marcel is predominantly male. 95.2% of people with this name are male. See the gender breakdown above for full details.
How many Marcel Smiths are there?
To find how many people share a specific full name, we combine first name and surname frequencies. Try: Marcel Smith, Marcel Johnson, Marcel Williams. You can also search any combination on our homepage.
Where does this data come from?
Our estimates use Social Security Administration birth records (1880 to 2024), adjusted for survival using CDC 2023 life tables broken down by sex. The U.S. population figure (342,754,338) is from the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate. Full methodology.
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