Marcella
A feminine name of Latin origin meaning "young warrior".
Name Census estimates that about 27,412 living Americans carry the first name Marcella. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Marcella today is around 53 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marcella births was 1922 (1,542 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marcella. 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 Marcella with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Marcella is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 222 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
27K
~ 1 in 12,504 Americans
Peak year
1922
1,542 babies that year
Average age
53
years old
1987 SSA rank
#1,055
Tracked since 1880
Census
Marcella in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 32,508 people with the first name Marcella, which placed it at #1,200 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
#1,200
National first-name rank
People counted
33K
32,508 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
10.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
61.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Marcella
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marcella is White at 61.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (19.5%) and Black (12.9%). 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 Marcella 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 Marcella at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White61.6% · 20,030
- Hispanic or Latino19.5% · 6,328
- Black or African American12.9% · 4,200
- Two or more races3.0% · 968
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 572
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 410
Gender
Gender distribution for Marcella
Out of the 65,559 babies given the name Marcella since 1880, 99.7% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Marcella as a male name
- Ranked #7,701 in 1987
- 5 male births in 1987
- Peak: 1926 (12 births)
Marcella as a female name
- Ranked #1,055 in 2024
- 236 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1922 (1,537 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Marcella appears almost entirely female. Of the 32,506 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Marcella: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marcella from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 13,455 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
Marcella 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 Marcella during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Marcellas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 49 states and territories. Illinois, California, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Marcella, while Wyoming, Nevada, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,179 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Marcella
Marcella is a feminine given name with Latin origins, derived from the Roman family name Marcellus. The name Marcellus is believed to have its roots in the Latin word "marculus," meaning "little male" or "young warrior."
The name Marcella can be traced back to ancient Rome, where it was used as a feminine form of Marcellus. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Marcella is Saint Marcella, a wealthy Roman widow who lived in the 4th century AD. She is celebrated as a prominent figure in early Christian history for her piety and charitable works.
In ancient Roman literature, the name Marcella appears in the works of Ovid and Pliny the Younger. Ovid's "Metamorphoses" mentions a character named Marcellus, while Pliny the Younger wrote letters addressed to a woman named Marcella.
During the Middle Ages, the name Marcella gained popularity in Catholic regions, particularly in Italy and Spain. One notable figure from this period is Marcella of Siena (1273-1328), an Italian Dominican tertiary who was known for her mystical visions and devotion to Christ.
In the Renaissance era, the name Marcella was associated with the Italian humanist scholar Marcella Fedele (1476-1558), who was renowned for her proficiency in Latin and Greek literature. She was one of the first women to deliver public lectures on Aristotle's philosophy.
Another notable Marcella in history was Marcella Sembrich (1858-1935), a Polish operatic soprano who achieved international fame for her performances in operas by composers such as Verdi, Puccini, and Donizetti.
Marcella Hazan (1924-2013) was an Italian-born cooking writer and teacher who popularized authentic Italian cuisine in the United States through her cookbooks and cooking classes.
Marcella Althaus-Reid (1952-2009) was a feminist theologian and academic from Argentina who challenged traditional Christian teachings on sexuality and gender.
People
Marcella + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marcella 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
Marcella: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marcella?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 27,412 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marcella 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 12,504 US residents.
Is Marcella a common name?
We classify Marcella as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 65,559 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marcella most popular?
The single biggest year for Marcella was 1922, when 1,542 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marcella is about 53 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Marcella in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 32,508 people with the name Marcella, or 10.76 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,200 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 Marcella 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 Marcella?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Marcella appears almost entirely female. Of the 32,506 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Marcella?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marcella is White at 61.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (19.5%) and Black (12.9%). 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 Marcella most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Marcella in the 2020 Census, accounting for 61.6% (20,030 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 Marcella in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Marcella a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Marcella 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 Marcella still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Marcella 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 Marcella 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 have Marcella as a first name?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Marcella at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.