Maral
A feminine name of Persian origin meaning "deer" or "gazelle".
Name Census estimates that about 337 living Americans carry the first name Maral. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Maral today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Maral births was 1990 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Maral. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Maral with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
337
~ 1 in 1,017,075 Americans
Peak year
1990
14 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2024 SSA rank
#14,568
Tracked since 1968
Census
Maral in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,066 people with the first name Maral, which placed it at #11,857 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#11,857
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,066 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Maral
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maral is White at 85.8%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (6.4%) and Two or More Races (4.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Maral described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Maral at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.8% · 915
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.4% · 68
- Two or more races4.9% · 52
- Hispanic or Latino1.8% · 19
- Black or African American1.0% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 1
Popularity
Maral: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Maral from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 89 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1980s peak, Maral remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Maral 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 Maral during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Marals live
Origin
Meaning and history of Maral
The name Maral has its origins in the Persian language and culture, with roots dating back to ancient times. It is derived from the Persian word "maral," which refers to a type of deer found in the mountains of Iran and Central Asia.
In Persian mythology, the maral deer was associated with grace, beauty, and swiftness, and was often depicted in ancient Persian art and literature. The name Maral was likely given to girls in the hopes that they would embody these qualities.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Maral can be found in the Shahnameh, the epic poem written by the renowned Persian poet Ferdowsi in the late 10th century. In this work, Maral is mentioned as the name of a beautiful and virtuous woman.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Maral. One such person was Maral Raissi (1922-2013), an Iranian artist and calligrapher who was renowned for her mastery of the traditional Persian art form known as "naghashi."
Another notable Maral was Maral Navenian (1909-1988), an Armenian actress and singer who gained fame in the early 20th century for her performances in Armenian theater productions and films.
In the realm of literature, Maral Elkhan (born 1954) is a contemporary Azerbaijani writer and poet who has published several collections of poetry and short stories.
Maral Tariverdian (1893-1983) was an influential Iranian sculptor and artist who played a significant role in the development of modern Iranian art in the early 20th century.
Lastly, Maral Yazarloo-Alvandi (born 1964) is an Iranian-American academic and author who has published extensively on the history and culture of Iran, particularly during the Qajar and Pahlavi eras.
These are just a few examples of individuals who have borne the name Maral throughout history, each leaving their mark in various fields and contributing to the rich tapestry of cultural heritage.
People
Maral + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Maral 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
Maral: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Maral?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 337 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Maral 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 1,017,075 US residents.
Is Maral a common name?
We classify Maral as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 349 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Maral most popular?
The single biggest year for Maral was 1990, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Maral is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Maral in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,066 people with the name Maral, or 0.35 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,857 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Maral in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Maral?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Maral leans strongly female. 1,049 people counted with this name were female (98.8%), compared with 13 male bearers (1.2%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Maral?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maral is White at 85.8%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (6.4%) and Two or More Races (4.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Maral most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Maral in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.8% (915 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Maral in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Maral a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Maral 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.
Is Maral still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Maral in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Maral can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
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.
How many Americans are named Maral?
See how many people have the name Maral on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.