Marcelline
From the French feminine form of the Late Latin name Marcellinus, meaning "young warrior".
Name Census estimates that about 302 living Americans carry the first name Marcelline. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Marcelline today is around 62 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marcelline births was 1928 (54 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marcelline. 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
302
~ 1 in 1,134,948 Americans
Peak year
1928
54 babies that year
Average age
62
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,724
Tracked since 1900
Popularity
Marcelline: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marcelline from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 293 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
Marcelline 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 Marcelline during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Marcellines live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. New York, Ohio, Illinois recorded the most babies named Marcelline, while Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 11 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Marcelline
The name Marcelline originates from the Late Latin name Marcellina, which is the feminine form of the masculine name Marcellus. The name Marcellus is derived from the Roman family name Marcellus, which may come from the Latin word "marcere," meaning "to be withered" or "to waste away."
Marcellus was the name of several notable figures in ancient Roman history, including Marcus Claudius Marcellus, a Roman consul and military leader who lived from around 268 BC to 208 BC. He was known for his victories against the Carthaginians during the Second Punic War.
The name Marcelline first appeared in Christian contexts, likely influenced by the cult of Saint Marcellina, a 4th-century Roman virgin and sister of Saint Ambrose, the famous bishop of Milan. Saint Marcellina lived from around 330 AD to 397 AD and was known for her piety and devotion to the Church.
In the Middle Ages, the name Marcelline was relatively rare but was used occasionally by devout Christian families, particularly in areas with strong Catholic traditions. One notable bearer of the name was Marcelline Pauper (1589-1662), a French nun and mystic who founded the Order of the Sisters of the Infant Jesus.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, the name Marcelline gained some popularity in France and other parts of Europe. One notable figure was Marcelline Desbordes-Valmore (1786-1859), a French poet and novelist who was highly regarded for her lyrical and emotional works.
In the 19th century, the name Marcelline was given to several prominent women, including Marcelline Prat (1809-1888), a French nun and founder of the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary, and Marcelline Delbrel (1898-1964), a French writer and mystic who advocated for a spirituality of everyday life.
Other notable bearers of the name Marcelline include Marcelline Desbordes-Valmore (1786-1859), a French poet and novelist, Marcelline Hugot (1849-1936), a French feminist and activist, and Marcelline Krafft (1765-1836), a French painter known for her portraits and religious works.
People
Marcelline + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marcelline 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
Marcelline: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marcelline?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 302 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marcelline 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 1,134,948 US residents.
Is Marcelline a common name?
We classify Marcelline as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,073 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marcelline most popular?
The single biggest year for Marcelline was 1928, when 54 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marcelline is about 62 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Marcelline a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Marcelline 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.