Mare
A feminine name derived from the Latin word for "sea".
Name Census estimates that about 294 living Americans carry the first name Mare. It is a predominantly male name (97.6% of registrations). The average person named Mare today is around 55 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mare births was 1969 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mare. 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
294
~ 1 in 1,165,831 Americans
Peak year
1969
21 babies that year
Average age
55
years old
1989 SSA rank
#7,570
Tracked since 1947
Gender
Gender distribution for Mare
Mare leans heavily male at 97.6% of total registrations, but 8 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Mare as a male name
- Ranked #7,570 in 1989
- 6 male births in 1989
- Peak: 1969 (21 births)
Mare as a female name
- Ranked #11,801 in 2023
- 8 female births in 2023
- Peak: 2023 (8 births)
Popularity
Mare: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mare from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 96 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mare 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 Mare during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mares live
Origin
Meaning and history of Mare
The name Mare is derived from the Latin word "mare," which means "sea" or "ocean." It has its origins in ancient Roman culture and can be traced back to the 8th century BCE.
The earliest recorded use of Mare as a given name dates back to the 1st century CE, when it was used as a name for Roman women. It was particularly popular among families living near the Mediterranean Sea, as the name was associated with the vast and powerful ocean.
In ancient Roman mythology, Mare was also the name of a minor sea goddess, often depicted as a beautiful woman riding on the back of a sea creature or holding a trident. This connection to the divine further reinforced the name's association with the sea.
One of the earliest known historical figures with the name Mare was Mare Antonia Paulina, a Roman woman who lived in the 1st century CE and was part of the influential Antonia family.
In the Middle Ages, the name Mare gained popularity across Europe, particularly in Italy and Spain. It was sometimes used as a shortened version of the name Maria or as a variant of the name Marina.
In the 16th century, Mare became a notable name in Italy with the birth of Mare de' Medici (1573-1642), a member of the powerful Medici family and the wife of King Henry IV of France.
Another famous bearer of the name was Mare Antoinette (1755-1793), the Queen of France during the French Revolution. Her tragic life and execution during the Reign of Terror made her one of the most well-known figures in history.
In the 19th century, the name Mare was particularly popular in Russia, where it was often spelled as Marya. One notable example was Marya Vasilyevna Romanova (1819-1876), a member of the Russian imperial family and the wife of Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich.
In more recent times, the name Mare has been used across various cultures and regions, though its popularity has waned compared to its heyday in ancient Rome and medieval Europe.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Mare
People
Mare + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mare 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
Mare: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mare?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 294 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mare 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 1,165,831 US residents.
Is Mare a common name?
We classify Mare as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 339 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mare most popular?
The single biggest year for Mare was 1969, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mare is about 55 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Mare a male name?
Yes, 97.6% of people registered as Mare 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.
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.