Marice
A variant of the masculine name Maurice, meaning "dark-skinned one."
Name Census estimates that about 912 living Americans carry the first name Marice. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 60.6% of registrations being male. The average person named Marice today is around 49 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marice births was 1971 (36 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marice. 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.
Key insights
- • Marice sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
People living today
912
~ 1 in 375,827 Americans
Peak year
1971
36 babies that year
Average age
49
years old
2011 SSA rank
#7,316
Tracked since 1919
Census
Marice in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 908 people with the first name Marice, which placed it at #13,344 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
#13,344
National first-name rank
People counted
908
908 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
51.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Marice
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marice is Black at 51.3%. The next largest groups are White (26.3%) and Hispanic (13.2%). 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 Marice 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 Marice at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American51.3% · 466
- White26.3% · 239
- Hispanic or Latino13.2% · 120
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.2% · 38
- Two or more races3.4% · 31
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 14
Gender
Gender distribution for Marice
Marice is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 1,184 total registrations, 717 (60.6%) were male and 467 (39.4%) were female.
Marice as a male name
- Ranked #7,316 in 2011
- 11 male births in 2011
- Peak: 1976 (25 births)
Marice as a female name
- Ranked #14,856 in 1995
- 5 female births in 1995
- Peak: 1971 (21 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Marice on both sides of the split. Of the 903 people counted with this name, 479 were male (53.0%) and 424 were female (47.0%).
Popularity
Marice: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marice from the 1910s through to the 2010s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 293 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Marice 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 Marice during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Marices live
Origin
Meaning and history of Marice
The name Marice is a variant of the French name Maurice, which has its roots in the ancient Roman name Mauritius. The origin of the name can be traced back to the Latin word "Maurus," meaning "Moorish" or "dark-skinned," referring to the people of North Africa.
During the late Roman Empire, Mauritius was a common name among Christian martyrs and saints, particularly St. Maurice, a 3rd-century Roman soldier who was martyred for his Christian faith along with his entire legion, known as the Theban Legion. This association with early Christian martyrdom contributed to the name's widespread use throughout Europe during the Middle Ages.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Marice can be found in the 8th century, when a Frankish nobleman named Marice served as a royal advisor to Charlemagne, the King of the Franks and the first ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. Marice played a crucial role in the consolidation of Charlemagne's power and the spread of Christianity throughout Western Europe.
In the 12th century, a renowned French philosopher and theologian named Marice de Sully was born in Paris. He served as the Bishop of Paris from 1163 to 1196 and was instrumental in the construction of the iconic Notre-Dame Cathedral. His writings on theology and philosophy had a significant influence on medieval thought.
Another notable bearer of the name Marice was Marice de Saxe, a famous military leader and marshal of France during the 18th century. Born in 1696, he is renowned for his innovative tactics and strategic brilliance, which contributed to several French victories during the War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years' War.
In the realm of literature, Marice Baring, an English writer and poet, gained recognition in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in 1874, he is best known for his works "Haunted Hours" and "Daphne Adeane," which explored themes of love, loss, and the supernatural.
The name Marice has a rich historical legacy, with its origins rooted in ancient Roman culture and its subsequent association with Christian martyrdom and influential figures throughout European history. While the spelling and pronunciation may have evolved over time, the name continues to carry a sense of strength, resilience, and cultural significance.
People
Marice + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marice 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
Marice: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marice?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 912 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marice 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 375,827 US residents.
Is Marice a common name?
We classify Marice as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,184 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marice most popular?
The single biggest year for Marice was 1971, when 36 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marice is about 49 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Marice in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 908 people with the name Marice, or 0.30 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,344 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 Marice 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 Marice?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Marice on both sides of the split. Of the 903 people counted with this name, 479 were male (53.0%) and 424 were female (47.0%). 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 Marice?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marice is Black at 51.3%. The next largest groups are White (26.3%) and Hispanic (13.2%). 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 Marice most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Marice in the 2020 Census, accounting for 51.3% (466 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 Marice in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Marice a male name?
Yes, 60.6% of people registered as Marice 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 Marice still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Marice 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 Marice 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 share the name Marice?
Find out how many Americans are named Marice on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.