Marnette
A feminine name derived from the French word "marne", meaning "marl" or "clayey soil".
Name Census estimates that about 108 living Americans carry the first name Marnette. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Marnette today is around 68 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marnette births was 1938 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marnette. 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
- • The typical person named Marnette is about 68 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Marnettes were born before 1968.
People living today
108
~ 1 in 3,173,651 Americans
Peak year
1938
12 babies that year
Average age
68
years old
1974 SSA rank
#9,650
Tracked since 1922
Census
Marnette in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 186 people with the first name Marnette, which placed it at #40,168 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
#40,168
National first-name rank
People counted
186
186 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
46.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Marnette
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marnette is White at 46.8%. The next largest groups are Black (40.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (5.4%). 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 Marnette 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 Marnette at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White46.8% · 87
- Black or African American40.3% · 75
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.4% · 10
- Hispanic or Latino3.8% · 7
- Two or more races2.2% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 3
Popularity
Marnette: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marnette from the 1920s through to the 1970s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 48 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1950s peak, Marnette remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Marnette 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 Marnette 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 Marnette
The name Marnette has its roots in the French language, dating back to the Middle Ages. It is believed to be a feminized version of the masculine name Marnet, which itself is a derivative of the Old French word "marne," meaning marl or a crumbly mixture of clay and limestone.
During the medieval period, the name was predominantly found in northern France, particularly in the regions of Normandy and Picardy. It was often associated with families or individuals involved in the mining or quarrying of marl, which was an important material used in construction and agriculture.
While there are no known direct references to the name Marnette in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it is possible that the name was used as a descriptive term or surname before becoming a given name in its own right.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Marnette can be traced back to the 13th century in various historical documents and records from northern France. One of the earliest known individuals bearing this name was Marnette de Boulogne, a noblewoman from the city of Boulogne-sur-Mer, who lived in the late 12th century.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Marnette, including:
1. Marnette de Montmorency (1292-1357), a French noblewoman and heiress from the prestigious Montmorency family.
2. Marnette de Châtillon (1325-1378), a French aristocrat and landowner from the Châtillon-sur-Seine region.
3. Marnette de Roye (1410-1472), a French courtier and lady-in-waiting to Queen Marie of Anjou during the reign of King Charles VII.
4. Marnette du Plessis (1548-1621), a French poet and literary figure during the Renaissance period.
5. Marnette de Saint-Évremond (1614-1703), a French author, soldier, and courtier known for her witty writings and participation in the literary salons of Paris.
While the name Marnette may have fallen out of widespread use in recent times, it remains a part of French cultural heritage and serves as a reminder of the country's rich linguistic and historical traditions.
People
Marnette + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marnette 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
Marnette: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marnette?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 108 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marnette 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 3,173,651 US residents.
Is Marnette a common name?
We classify Marnette as "Very Rare". It ranks above 65.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 176 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marnette most popular?
The single biggest year for Marnette was 1938, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marnette is about 68 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Marnette in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 186 people with the name Marnette, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #40,168 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 Marnette 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 Marnette?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Marnette appears almost entirely female. Of the 185 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 Marnette?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marnette is White at 46.8%. The next largest groups are Black (40.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (5.4%). 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 Marnette most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Marnette in the 2020 Census, accounting for 46.8% (87 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 Marnette in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Marnette a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Marnette 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 Marnette still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Marnette 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 Marnette 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 Marnette as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.