Marceil
A French diminutive variation of the name Marcel meaning "little warrior".
Name Census estimates that about 87 living Americans carry the first name Marceil. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Marceil today is around 78 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marceil births was 1922 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marceil. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Marceil is about 78 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Marceils were born before 1958.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Marceil. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
87
~ 1 in 3,939,705 Americans
Peak year
1922
20 babies that year
Average age
78
years old
1964 SSA rank
#7,391
Tracked since 1913
Census
Marceil in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 200 people with the first name Marceil, which placed it at #38,397 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
#38,397
National first-name rank
People counted
200
200 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
90.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Marceil
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marceil is White at 90.0%. The next largest groups are Black (6.5%) and Hispanic (1.5%). 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 Marceil 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 Marceil at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White90.0% · 180
- Black or African American6.5% · 13
- Hispanic or Latino1.5% · 3
- Two or more races1.5% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 1
Popularity
Marceil: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marceil from the 1910s through to the 1960s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 149 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Marceil 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 Marceil during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Marceils live
Origin
Meaning and history of Marceil
The given name Marceil has its roots in the Latin language and the Late Roman period. It is derived from the Latin name Marcus, which was a very common name during the Roman Empire. Marcus is thought to be related to the Roman god Mars, the god of war.
Marceil is a French variation of the name Marcus, with the addition of the diminutive suffix "-eil". This suffix was commonly used in medieval France to create pet forms or nicknames of names. The earliest recorded use of the name Marceil dates back to the 12th century in France.
One of the earliest documented individuals with the name Marceil was Marceil de Nanteuil, a French nobleman who lived in the late 12th century. He was a knight and vassal of the Count of Champagne.
In the 13th century, Marceil de Noyers was a notable French trouvère (a composer and poet of lyric poetry). He was active in the court of King Thibaut IV of Navarre and is known for his love songs and pastourelles.
Another historical figure named Marceil was Marceil de Marly, a 14th-century French architect who worked on the Louvre Palace in Paris under the patronage of King Charles V.
In the 15th century, Marceil de Villiers was a French nobleman and military commander who fought in the Hundred Years' War. He served under Joan of Arc and was present at the lifting of the Siege of Orleans in 1429.
During the Renaissance period, Marceil de Serres was a prominent French writer and agronomist. Born in 1539, he is best known for his influential work on agriculture and horticulture, "Le Théâtre d'Agriculture et Mesnage des Champs" (The Theater of Agriculture and Management of the Fields).
While the name Marceil has its origins in France, it has been used in various forms across different cultures and time periods, reflecting the influence of the Roman Empire and the spread of Latin-derived names throughout Europe.
People
Marceil + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marceil 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
Marceil: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marceil?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 87 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marceil 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 3,939,705 US residents.
Is Marceil a common name?
We classify Marceil as "Very Rare". It ranks above 62.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 438 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marceil most popular?
The single biggest year for Marceil was 1922, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marceil is about 78 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Marceil in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 200 people with the name Marceil, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #38,397 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 Marceil 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 Marceil?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Marceil leans strongly female. 186 people counted with this name were female (92.1%), compared with 16 male bearers (7.9%). 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 Marceil?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marceil is White at 90.0%. The next largest groups are Black (6.5%) and Hispanic (1.5%). 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 Marceil most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Marceil in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.0% (180 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 Marceil in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Marceil a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Marceil 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 Marceil still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Marceil 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 Marceil 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 people are named Marceil?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Marceil at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.