Maresa
A feminine name of unknown origin, possibly a portmanteau of Maria and Teresa.
Name Census estimates that about 550 living Americans carry the first name Maresa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Maresa today is around 37 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Maresa births was 1995 (23 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Maresa. 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
550
~ 1 in 623,190 Americans
Peak year
1995
23 babies that year
Average age
37
years old
2017 SSA rank
#17,497
Tracked since 1957
Census
Maresa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 641 people with the first name Maresa, which placed it at #17,282 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
#17,282
National first-name rank
People counted
641
641 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
49.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Maresa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maresa is White at 49.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (29.6%) and Black (12.6%). 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 Maresa 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 Maresa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White49.3% · 316
- Hispanic or Latino29.6% · 190
- Black or African American12.6% · 81
- Two or more races4.5% · 29
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.4% · 22
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 3
Popularity
Maresa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Maresa from the 1950s through to the 2010s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 170 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Maresa 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 Maresa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Maresas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Maresa
The name Maresa is believed to have its origins in the Italian language, derived from the Latin word "mare," meaning "sea." It is likely that the name emerged during the medieval period, potentially as a feminine form of the Italian name Marino, which also means "of the sea."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Maresa can be found in the writings of the 13th-century Italian poet Dante Alighieri, who mentioned a character named Maresa in his famous work, the Divine Comedy. This reference suggests that the name was in use during the late Middle Ages in Italy.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Maresa. One such figure was Maresa Tomei (1512-1588), an Italian Renaissance painter known for her portraits and religious works. Another was Maresa Carafa (1556-1618), a prominent Italian noblewoman and patron of the arts during the late Renaissance period.
In the 18th century, Maresa Agnesi (1718-1799) was an influential Italian mathematician, philosopher, and theologian. She is renowned for her work in calculus and for being one of the first women to receive widespread recognition in the field of mathematics.
Moving into the 20th century, Maresa Ganapolskaya (1902-1986) was a Russian-born ballerina who performed with the Mariinsky Ballet and later became a renowned teacher, passing on her expertise to generations of dancers.
Another notable figure with the name Maresa was Maresa del Portillo (1920-2004), a Spanish writer and poet who was awarded the prestigious Miguel de Cervantes Prize in 1994 for her contributions to Spanish literature.
While the name Maresa may not be as common today as it once was, its rich history and connections to the Italian language, literature, and various artistic and intellectual pursuits make it a name with a fascinating and multifaceted heritage.
People
Maresa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Maresa 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
Maresa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Maresa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 550 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Maresa 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 623,190 US residents.
Is Maresa a common name?
We classify Maresa as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 586 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Maresa most popular?
The single biggest year for Maresa was 1995, when 23 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Maresa is about 37 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Maresa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 641 people with the name Maresa, or 0.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,282 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 Maresa 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 Maresa?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Maresa appears almost entirely female. Of the 645 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Maresa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maresa is White at 49.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (29.6%) and Black (12.6%). 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 Maresa most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Maresa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 49.3% (316 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 Maresa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Maresa a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Maresa 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 Maresa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Maresa 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 Maresa 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 the name Maresa?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Maresa on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.