Marquavis
Masculine given name blending the names "Marcus" and "Javis".
Name Census estimates that about 208 living Americans carry the first name Marquavis. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Marquavis today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marquavis births was 1996 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marquavis. 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
208
~ 1 in 1,647,857 Americans
Peak year
1996
15 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2020 SSA rank
#13,350
Tracked since 1988
Census
Marquavis in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 169 people with the first name Marquavis, which placed it at #42,487 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
#42,487
National first-name rank
People counted
169
169 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
94.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Marquavis
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marquavis is Black at 94.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (1.2%). 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 Marquavis 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 Marquavis at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American94.1% · 159
- Two or more races3.6% · 6
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 2
Popularity
Marquavis: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marquavis from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 108 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
Marquavis 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 Marquavis during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Marquavis' live
Origin
Meaning and history of Marquavis
The name Marquavis is a relatively modern creation that appears to have originated in the United States, likely among African American communities in the late 20th century. It does not have a clear linguistic origin or roots in any specific language or culture.
The name is believed to be a blend or combination of the more common names Marquis and Jarvis. Marquis is a French word meaning "marquess" or a nobleman ranking below a duke, while Jarvis is an English surname derived from the French name Gervais, meaning "spear bearer."
There are no known historical references or records of the name Marquavis appearing in ancient texts, religious scriptures, or other notable historical documents from earlier periods. The earliest recorded examples of the name likely date back only a few decades, as it gained popularity in certain regions of the United States.
While the name Marquavis is relatively uncommon, there are a few individuals who have gained recognition with this first name. One example is Marquavis Gournigan, a former American football defensive back who played for the University of Oklahoma in the early 2010s.
Another notable individual with the name is Marquavis Sutton, a former high school basketball player from Georgia who went on to play college basketball at North Carolina Central University in the late 2010s.
Marquavis Williams is a former American football wide receiver who played for the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in the early 2010s, and later went on to sign with the Detroit Lions in the NFL.
Marquavis Lester is a former high school basketball player from Alabama who played for the University of North Alabama in the mid-2010s.
Marquavis Baskin is a former high school basketball player from Mississippi who played for the University of Southern Mississippi in the late 2010s.
It is important to note that due to the relatively recent origin and limited usage of the name Marquavis, there may be a lack of extensive historical records or documented individuals with this first name beyond the few examples provided here.
People
Marquavis + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marquavis 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
Marquavis: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marquavis?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 208 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marquavis 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 1,647,857 US residents.
Is Marquavis a common name?
We classify Marquavis as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 212 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marquavis most popular?
The single biggest year for Marquavis was 1996, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marquavis is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Marquavis in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 169 people with the name Marquavis, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #42,487 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 Marquavis 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 Marquavis?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Marquavis appears almost entirely male. Of the 165 people counted with this name, 100.0% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Marquavis?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marquavis is Black at 94.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (1.2%). 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 Marquavis most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Marquavis in the 2020 Census, accounting for 94.1% (159 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 Marquavis in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Marquavis a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Marquavis 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 Marquavis still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Marquavis 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 Marquavis 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 Marquavis?
For a quick modern take, check how many people have the name Marquavis on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.