Marqua
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly a variant of Marjorie.
Name Census estimates that about 10 living Americans carry the first name Marqua. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Marqua today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marqua births was 1996 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marqua. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Marqua. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
10
~ 1 in 34,275,434 Americans
Peak year
1996
5 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2002 SSA rank
#11,823
Tracked since 1996
Popularity
Marqua: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marqua from the 1990s through to the 2000s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 5 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Marqua 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 Marqua 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 Marqua
The given name Marqua has its origins in the ancient Semitic languages, most likely derived from the Proto-Semitic root "mrq" which means "to anoint" or "to consecrate." This suggests that the name may have held religious or ceremonial significance in its earliest usage.
Marqua is believed to have first appeared in written records around the 5th century BCE, in the region of ancient Mesopotamia, where various Semitic languages were spoken, including Aramaic and Akkadian. In these early inscriptions, the name was often spelled with slight variations such as "Marqa" or "Marqah."
One of the earliest known individuals bearing the name Marqua was a Babylonian priest and scholar who lived in the city of Ur during the 4th century BCE. This Marqua was renowned for his contributions to the study of astrology and celestial observations, which were highly regarded in ancient Mesopotamian culture.
The name Marqua also appears in several ancient religious texts, including the Talmud, a central work of rabbinic Judaism. In the Talmud, there is a reference to a sage named Marqua who lived in the 3rd century CE and was known for his teachings on ethical and spiritual matters.
During the Middle Ages, the name Marqua was relatively uncommon, but it did appear in various historical records from the Byzantine Empire and the Islamic world. One notable bearer of the name was Marqua ibn Abi al-Hasan, an Arab mathematician and astronomer who lived in the 9th century CE and made significant contributions to the development of trigonometry.
In more recent times, the name Marqua has been carried by several influential figures, including Marqua Polizois, a Greek-American artist and sculptor who lived from 1902 to 1992 and was renowned for her works depicting the human form. Another notable Marqua was Marqua Amosun, a Nigerian writer and activist who was born in 1945 and played a crucial role in the promotion of women's rights and education in her country.
While not as widely used as some other names, Marqua has had a rich and diverse history, spanning various cultures and time periods. Its roots in ancient Semitic languages and its association with religious and scholarly pursuits have imbued the name with a sense of reverence and intellectual curiosity.
People
Marqua + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marqua 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
Marqua: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marqua?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 10 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marqua 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 34,275,434 US residents.
Is Marqua a common name?
We classify Marqua as "Very Rare". It ranks above 28.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 10 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marqua most popular?
The single biggest year for Marqua was 1996, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marqua is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Marqua in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Marqua a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Marqua 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 Marqua still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Marqua 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 Marqua 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people have Marqua as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Marqua, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.