Markela
A feminine given name of uncertain origin, possibly derived from Mark.
Name Census estimates that about 131 living Americans carry the first name Markela. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Markela today is around 33 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Markela births was 1998 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Markela. 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
131
~ 1 in 2,616,445 Americans
Peak year
1998
9 babies that year
Average age
33
years old
2007 SSA rank
#19,465
Tracked since 1977
Census
Markela in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 194 people with the first name Markela, which placed it at #39,126 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
#39,126
National first-name rank
People counted
194
194 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
61.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Markela
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Markela is Black at 61.3%. The next largest groups are White (24.2%) and Hispanic (10.3%). 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 Markela 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 Markela at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American61.3% · 119
- White24.2% · 47
- Hispanic or Latino10.3% · 20
- Two or more races2.6% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 2
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 1
Popularity
Markela: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Markela from the 1970s through to the 2000s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 53 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Markela remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Markela 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 Markela 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 Markela
The given name Markela has its origins in the Slavic languages, particularly Serbo-Croatian and Macedonian. It is believed to have derived from the Latin name Marcus, which itself has roots in the ancient Roman name Martius. This name was related to the Roman god Mars, the god of war and protector of agriculture.
In Serbo-Croatian and Macedonian cultures, the name Markela is a feminine form of the more common masculine name Marko. It likely emerged as a diminutive or endearing variation of Marko during the Middle Ages when these Slavic languages were developing.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Markela can be traced back to the 14th century in a Serbo-Croatian manuscript from the region of Dalmatia, which was then part of the medieval Kingdom of Croatia. This document mentions a woman named Markela who was a noblewoman and landowner.
During the Renaissance period, a notable figure with the name Markela was Markela Strozzi (1472-1541), an Italian Renaissance writer and philosopher from Florence. She was part of the influential Strozzi family and is known for her contributions to humanist thought and her writings on the education of women.
In the 19th century, a significant bearer of the name was Markela Grković (1835-1920), a Serbian educator and feminist activist. She was a pioneering figure in the Serbian women's rights movement and established one of the first schools for girls in Belgrade.
Another historical figure with this name was Markela Sedlar (1872-1920), a Croatian writer and journalist from Dalmatia. She was known for her novels and short stories that explored themes of rural life and the experiences of women in the Dalmatian region.
In the early 20th century, Markela Čupić (1897-1981) was a notable Montenegrin writer and poet. She was part of the modernist literary movement in Montenegro and her works often explored themes of nationalism and cultural identity.
While the name Markela has its roots in Slavic languages and cultures, it has also been used, albeit less commonly, in other parts of Europe and the Mediterranean region due to cultural and linguistic exchanges over the centuries.
People
Markela + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Markela 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
Markela: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Markela?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 131 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Markela 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 2,616,445 US residents.
Is Markela a common name?
We classify Markela as "Very Rare". It ranks above 68.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 136 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Markela most popular?
The single biggest year for Markela was 1998, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Markela is about 33 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Markela in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 194 people with the name Markela, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #39,126 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 Markela 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 Markela?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Markela appears almost entirely female. Of the 194 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Markela?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Markela is Black at 61.3%. The next largest groups are White (24.2%) and Hispanic (10.3%). 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 Markela most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Markela in the 2020 Census, accounting for 61.3% (119 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 Markela in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Markela a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Markela 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 Markela still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Markela 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 Markela 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 Markela?
You can see how many people have the name Markela on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.