Marcelus
A masculine given name derived from the Roman family name Marcellus.
Name Census estimates that about 300 living Americans carry the first name Marcelus. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Marcelus today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marcelus births was 1996 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marcelus. 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
300
~ 1 in 1,142,514 Americans
Peak year
1996
18 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,453
Tracked since 1970
Census
Marcelus in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 276 people with the first name Marcelus, which placed it at #31,162 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
#31,162
National first-name rank
People counted
276
276 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
65.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Marcelus
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marcelus is Black at 65.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.4%) and White (9.4%). 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 Marcelus 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 Marcelus at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American65.2% · 180
- Hispanic or Latino13.4% · 37
- White9.4% · 26
- Two or more races8.3% · 23
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.5% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 3
Popularity
Marcelus: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marcelus from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 101 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Marcelus remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Marcelus 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 Marcelus during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Marcelus' live
Origin
Meaning and history of Marcelus
Marcelus is a masculine given name with its origins rooted in ancient Rome. It is derived from the Roman family name Marcellus, which is a diminutive form of the name Marcus. The name Marcus itself is believed to have its roots in the Oscan language, an ancient Italic language spoken in parts of southern Italy before the Roman conquest.
The name Marcellus gained prominence in the 3rd century BC when Marcus Claudius Marcellus, a renowned Roman consul and military commander, became a celebrated figure in Roman history. He was known for his victories against the Carthaginians during the Second Punic War and for his conquest of the city of Syracuse in Sicily.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Marcelus can be found in the writings of the ancient Roman historian Livy, who documented the life and achievements of Marcus Claudius Marcellus. This early historical reference helped solidify the name's association with Roman nobility and military prowess.
Over the centuries, several notable figures have borne the name Marcelus. One prominent example is Marcellus I, who served as Pope from 308 to 309 AD and is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church. Another notable bearer of the name was Marcellus of Ancyra, a 4th-century bishop who played a significant role in the Arian controversy and the development of early Christian theology.
In the Renaissance period, Marcelus emerged as a popular name among Italian nobility. One of the most famous bearers of the name during this time was Marcellus II, who reigned as Pope for a brief period in 1555. Despite his short pontificate, he is remembered for his efforts to reform the Catholic Church.
Other noteworthy individuals named Marcelus include Marcelus Empiricus, a 4th-century physician and writer who authored a work on herbal remedies, and Marcelus Palingenius Stellatus, a 16th-century Italian poet and satirist known for his epic work "Zodiacus Vitae."
While the popularity of the name Marcelus has fluctuated over time, it has remained a part of the cultural and historical tapestry of various societies, carrying with it the echoes of its illustrious Roman origins and the legacy of notable individuals who have borne this name throughout the centuries.
People
Marcelus + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marcelus 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
Marcelus: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marcelus?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 300 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marcelus 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 1,142,514 US residents.
Is Marcelus a common name?
We classify Marcelus as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 307 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marcelus most popular?
The single biggest year for Marcelus was 1996, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marcelus is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Marcelus in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 276 people with the name Marcelus, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #31,162 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 Marcelus 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 Marcelus?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Marcelus appears almost entirely male. Of the 272 people counted with this name, 99.3% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Marcelus?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marcelus is Black at 65.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.4%) and White (9.4%). 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 Marcelus most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Marcelus in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.2% (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 Marcelus in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Marcelus a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Marcelus in the SSA data are male. 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 Marcelus still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Marcelus 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 Marcelus 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 Marcelus as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.