Marquee
A French word referring to a roofed shelter for gathering.
Name Census estimates that about 255 living Americans carry the first name Marquee. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 87.0% of registrations being male. The average person named Marquee today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marquee births was 1992 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marquee. 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
255
~ 1 in 1,344,135 Americans
Peak year
1992
15 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2020 SSA rank
#11,936
Tracked since 1979
Census
Marquee in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 288 people with the first name Marquee, which placed it at #30,313 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
#30,313
National first-name rank
People counted
288
288 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
63.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Marquee
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marquee is Black at 63.5%. The next largest groups are White (18.8%) and Hispanic (9.4%). 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 Marquee 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 Marquee at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American63.5% · 183
- White18.8% · 54
- Hispanic or Latino9.4% · 27
- Two or more races6.6% · 19
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.7% · 5
Gender
Gender distribution for Marquee
Marquee leans heavily male at 87.0% of total registrations, but 34 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Marquee as a male name
- Ranked #13,351 in 2020
- 5 male births in 2020
- Peak: 2015 (12 births)
Marquee as a female name
- Ranked #11,936 in 1998
- 7 female births in 1998
- Peak: 1993 (8 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Marquee on both sides of the split. Of the 299 people counted with this name, 206 were male (68.9%) and 93 were female (31.1%).
Popularity
Marquee: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marquee from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 103 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
Marquee 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 Marquee 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 Marquee
The name Marquee is not a traditional given name. It is derived from the French word "marquise," which refers to a type of large, ornamental tent or portable canopy typically used at fairs, circuses, or outdoor events. The word "marquise" itself comes from the French title "Marquise," which was the rank of a marquis' wife in the French nobility.
The origin of using "Marquee" as a given name is unclear, but it likely emerged as a unique or inventive name choice in the 20th century. It may have been inspired by the architectural or theatrical connotations of the word, suggesting grandeur, spectacle, or a sense of attraction or prominence.
There are no known historical references to the name Marquee in ancient texts, religious scriptures, or historical records, as it is not a traditional name with deep historical roots. However, here are a few notable individuals who have borne the name Marquee:
1. Marquee Moon, an American musician and songwriter born in the late 20th century, best known as the frontman of the rock band Television.
2. Marquee Desjardins, a Canadian ice hockey player who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) in the early 2000s.
3. Marquee Williams, an American football player who played as a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) in the early 2010s.
4. Marquee Smith, an American basketball player who played in the American Basketball Association (ABA) in the 1970s.
5. Marquee Desjardins, a Canadian actress and model active in the late 20th century, known for her roles in various television shows and films.
While the name Marquee is relatively uncommon, it has been used as a given name in various contexts, perhaps inspired by its unique sound and association with grandeur or attraction. However, it does not have a deep historical or cultural background compared to many traditional given names.
People
Marquee + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marquee 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
Marquee: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marquee?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 255 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marquee 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 1,344,135 US residents.
Is Marquee a common name?
We classify Marquee as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 261 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marquee most popular?
The single biggest year for Marquee was 1992, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marquee is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Marquee in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 288 people with the name Marquee, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #30,313 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 Marquee 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 Marquee?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Marquee on both sides of the split. Of the 299 people counted with this name, 206 were male (68.9%) and 93 were female (31.1%). 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 Marquee?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marquee is Black at 63.5%. The next largest groups are White (18.8%) and Hispanic (9.4%). 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 Marquee most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Marquee in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.5% (183 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 Marquee in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Marquee a male name?
Yes, 87.0% of people registered as Marquee 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 Marquee still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Marquee 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 Marquee 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 common is the name Marquee?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.