Mar
A given name derived from the Latin word for "sea".
Name Census estimates that about 814 living Americans carry the first name Mar. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 76.9% of registrations being female. The average person named Mar today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mar births was 2023 (92 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mar. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
814
~ 1 in 421,074 Americans
Peak year
2023
92 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,994
Tracked since 1913
Gender
Gender distribution for Mar
Mar is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 1,057 total registrations, 244 (23.1%) were male and 813 (76.9%) were female.
Mar as a male name
- Ranked #8,079 in 2024
- 10 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (20 births)
Mar as a female name
- Ranked #2,994 in 2024
- 55 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (72 births)
Popularity
Mar: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mar from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 278 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mar by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Mar during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mars live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Mar, while Florida, Texas, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 54 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Mar
The name Mar has its origins in various cultures and languages around the world. It is believed to derive from the Latin name "Marius," which can be traced back to the Roman Republic era. Marius was a surname meaning "male" or "masculine," and it eventually became a given name in its own right.
Another possible origin is the ancient Aramaic name "Mar," meaning "lord" or "master." This name was often used as a title of respect for religious figures or scholars in the Middle East during the early Christian era. It was sometimes adopted as a personal name as well.
In Sanskrit, the name "Mara" is associated with the Buddhist concept of a spiritual force that represents temptation, attachment, and delusion. It is personified as a demon or deity that tries to obstruct the path to enlightenment. While not a direct etymological link, this cultural reference adds another layer of meaning to the name.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Mar was Mar Saba (439-532 AD), a Christian monk and scholar who established the famous Mar Saba Monastery in the Judean Desert, near Bethlehem. This monastery played a significant role in the development of Eastern Christian theology and monastic traditions.
Another notable figure was Mar Aba I (c. 540-552 AD), a Syriac Christian patriarch who held the title of "Great Metropolitan and Catholicos of the East." He played a crucial role in the spread of Christianity in Mesopotamia and Persia.
In medieval Europe, the name Marius was relatively common, particularly in Italy and France. One famous bearer was Marius the Elder (157-86 BC), a Roman general and statesman who played a pivotal role in the Roman Republic's conflict with Germanic tribes and internal political struggles.
During the Renaissance period, the Italian humanist scholar and poet Marius Philelphus (1480-1559) was a prominent figure in the revival of classical learning and literature.
In more recent times, the French author and philosopher Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986) had the given name Simone-Marie, which combines the French forms of the names Simone and Marie (the French equivalent of Mar).
People
Mar + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mar as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Mar: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mar?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 814 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mar going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 421,074 US residents.
Is Mar a common name?
We classify Mar as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,057 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mar most popular?
The single biggest year for Mar was 2023, when 92 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mar is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Mar a female name?
Yes, 76.9% of people registered as Mar in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.