Marche
Of French origin, meaning "to walk or march".
Name Census estimates that about 397 living Americans carry the first name Marche. It is a predominantly female name (98.3% of registrations). The average person named Marche today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marche births was 1989 (28 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marche. 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
397
~ 1 in 863,361 Americans
Peak year
1989
28 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
1994 SSA rank
#7,468
Tracked since 1960
Census
Marche in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 500 people with the first name Marche, which placed it at #20,593 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
#20,593
National first-name rank
People counted
500
500 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
74.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Marche
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marche is Black at 74.2%. The next largest groups are White (13.4%) and Two or More Races (4.8%). 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 Marche 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 Marche at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American74.2% · 371
- White13.4% · 67
- Two or more races4.8% · 24
- Hispanic or Latino3.8% · 19
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.2% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 8
Gender
Gender distribution for Marche
Marche leans heavily female at 98.3% of total registrations, but 7 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Marche as a male name
- Ranked #7,468 in 1994
- 7 male births in 1994
- Peak: 1994 (7 births)
Marche as a female name
- Ranked #16,506 in 2009
- 6 female births in 2009
- Peak: 1989 (28 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Marche leans strongly female. 418 people counted with this name were female (83.9%), compared with 80 male bearers (16.1%).
Popularity
Marche: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marche from the 1960s through to the 2000s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 181 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Marche remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Marche 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 Marche during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Marches live
Origin
Meaning and history of Marche
The given name Marche has its origins in the French language, emerging during the Middle Ages around the 11th or 12th century. It is believed to be derived from the Old French word "marcher," which means "to walk" or "to march." This connection suggests that the name may have been initially associated with individuals who were travelers, soldiers, or those engaged in some form of journey or expedition.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Marche can be found in the chronicles of the Crusades, where it was mentioned as the name of a French knight who participated in the Third Crusade (1189-1192 CE). This knight, Marche de Montfort, was a member of the prominent Montfort family and fought alongside King Richard I of England during the campaign to reclaim the Holy Land from Muslim rule.
In the 13th century, a renowned French trouvère (a composer and poet of secular music) named Marche le Petit gained fame for his contributions to the courtly love tradition. His works, which often praised the virtues of courtly love and chivalry, were widely circulated among the noble circles of medieval France.
During the Renaissance period, the name Marche was associated with the Italian humanist and scholar Marche Palmieri (1406-1475), who was renowned for his works on ethics, philosophy, and rhetoric. Palmieri served as a diplomat and advisor to the powerful Medici family in Florence and was highly regarded for his erudition and intellectual prowess.
In the realm of religious history, the name Marche is connected to Saint Marche de Vézelay (1123-1188), a French monk and abbot who played a significant role in the construction of the renowned Basilica of Vézelay, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Burgundy, France. Saint Marche was known for his piety, leadership, and architectural vision, and his name remains associated with this iconic Romanesque church.
During the 19th century, the name Marche gained further prominence with the French playwright and novelist Marche de Villiers (1811-1859), whose works often explored themes of social commentary and satire. His play "Le Gamin de Paris" (The Street Urchin of Paris) became a popular success and cemented his reputation as a keen observer of Parisian life and culture.
These are just a few notable examples of individuals throughout history who bore the given name Marche, a name that has its roots in the French language and has been carried by figures from various fields, including warfare, literature, religion, and the arts.
People
Marche + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marche 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
Marche: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marche?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 397 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marche 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 863,361 US residents.
Is Marche a common name?
We classify Marche as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 418 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marche most popular?
The single biggest year for Marche was 1989, when 28 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marche is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Marche in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 500 people with the name Marche, or 0.17 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,593 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 Marche 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 Marche?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Marche leans strongly female. 418 people counted with this name were female (83.9%), compared with 80 male bearers (16.1%). 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 Marche?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marche is Black at 74.2%. The next largest groups are White (13.4%) and Two or More Races (4.8%). 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 Marche most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Marche in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.2% (371 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 Marche in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Marche a female name?
Yes, 98.3% of people registered as Marche 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 Marche still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Marche 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 Marche 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 common is the name Marche?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.