Maree
A French name meaning "ocean", derived from the word "mer".
Name Census estimates that about 557 living Americans carry the first name Maree. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Maree today is around 45 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Maree births was 1918 (26 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Maree. 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 Maree with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
557
~ 1 in 615,358 Americans
Peak year
1918
26 babies that year
Average age
45
years old
2020 SSA rank
#12,980
Tracked since 1894
Census
Maree in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 802 people with the first name Maree, which placed it at #14,631 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
#14,631
National first-name rank
People counted
802
802 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
68.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Maree
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maree is White at 68.5%. The next largest groups are Black (11.6%) and Hispanic (10.0%). 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 Maree 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 Maree at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White68.5% · 549
- Black or African American11.6% · 93
- Hispanic or Latino10.0% · 80
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.5% · 44
- Two or more races3.6% · 29
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 7
Popularity
Maree: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Maree from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 148 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
Maree 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 Maree during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Maree
The name Maree is believed to have originated from the French language, with its roots dating back to the medieval period. It is derived from the Old French word "mare," which means "a small body of standing water" or "a pool." This name was likely given to children born near a pond or a lake, reflecting the close connection between names and the natural surroundings during that era.
In the early 12th century, the name Maree began to appear in various historical records and documents across France. One notable reference can be found in the "Cartulaire de l'abbaye de Saint-Père de Chartres," a collection of charters and documents from the Abbey of Saint-Père in Chartres, where a woman named Maree is mentioned as a witness to a land transaction in the year 1125.
The earliest recorded example of the name Maree dates back to the 13th century, when a woman named Maree de Montfort was documented in the "Livre des Vassaux," a medieval French manuscript that recorded the names of vassals and their fiefs. She was the daughter of a prominent nobleman from the Montfort family, which played a significant role in the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars in southern France.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Maree. One such figure was Maree de Valois, a French noblewoman who lived in the 14th century and was a member of the influential Valois dynasty. Another notable Maree was Maree de Bourbon, a 15th-century French princess from the House of Bourbon, who married into the royal family of Navarre.
In the literary realm, Maree de Navarre, a 16th-century French writer and scholar, gained recognition for her poetic works and her involvement in the intellectual circles of her time. Her poetry collection, "Les Marguerites de la Marguerite des Princesses," published in 1547, was widely acclaimed and influential during the Renaissance period.
Another prominent figure with the name Maree was Maree de Gournay, a 17th-century French writer and philosopher who was closely associated with the famous essayist Michel de Montaigne. She played a significant role in the publication and promotion of Montaigne's works and was regarded as one of the earliest advocates for women's education and intellectual pursuits.
While the name Maree has its roots in the French language, it has also been adopted and adapted in other cultures and languages over time, reflecting the cultural exchange and influences that have shaped the evolution of names throughout history.
People
Maree + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Maree 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
Maree: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Maree?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 557 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Maree 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 615,358 US residents.
Is Maree a common name?
We classify Maree as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,049 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Maree most popular?
The single biggest year for Maree was 1918, when 26 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Maree is about 45 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Maree in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 802 people with the name Maree, or 0.27 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,631 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 Maree 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 Maree?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Maree leans strongly female. 785 people counted with this name were female (97.4%), compared with 21 male bearers (2.6%). 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 Maree?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maree is White at 68.5%. The next largest groups are Black (11.6%) and Hispanic (10.0%). 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 Maree most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Maree in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.5% (549 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 Maree in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Maree a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Maree 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 Maree still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Maree 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 Maree 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 are named Maree?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.