Marris
A variant spelling of the name Morris, derived from the Old French "morse", meaning "Moor".
Name Census estimates that about 26 living Americans carry the first name Marris. It is a predominantly male name (91.2% of registrations). The average person named Marris today is around 63 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marris births was 1940 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marris. 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 Marris. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
26
~ 1 in 13,182,859 Americans
Peak year
1940
8 babies that year
Average age
63
years old
1972 SSA rank
#5,480
Tracked since 1917
Census
Marris in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 142 people with the first name Marris, which placed it at #46,696 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
#46,696
National first-name rank
People counted
142
142 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
47.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Marris
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marris is White at 47.2%. The next largest groups are Black (36.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.9%). 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 Marris 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 Marris at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White47.2% · 67
- Black or African American36.6% · 52
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.9% · 7
- Hispanic or Latino4.2% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.5% · 5
- Two or more races3.5% · 5
Gender
Gender distribution for Marris
Marris leans heavily male at 91.2% of total registrations, but 6 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Marris as a male name
- Ranked #5,480 in 1972
- 5 male births in 1972
- Peak: 1940 (8 births)
Marris as a female name
- Ranked #13,510 in 1998
- 6 female births in 1998
- Peak: 1998 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Marris on both sides of the split. Of the 138 people counted with this name, 71 were male (51.4%) and 67 were female (48.6%).
Popularity
Marris: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marris from the 1910s through to the 1990s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1930s, with 16 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1930s peak, Marris remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Marris 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 Marris 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 Marris
The name Marris is believed to have its origins in the ancient Aramaic language, which was widely spoken across the Middle East and parts of the Mediterranean region during the first millennium BC. It is thought to be derived from the Aramaic word "mar," which means "lord" or "master," and the suffix "-is," which was a common ending used to form personal names.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Marris can be found in the Babylonian Talmud, a central text of Rabbinic Judaism compiled between the 3rd and 5th centuries AD. In this text, Marris is mentioned as the name of a scholar and interpreter of Jewish law who lived in Babylon during the 3rd century AD.
During the Middle Ages, the name Marris appears to have been particularly popular among certain Christian communities in the Middle East, possibly due to its association with the Aramaic language, which was closely related to the Syriac language used in many early Christian writings and liturgies.
One notable historical figure bearing the name Marris was Saint Marris of Edessa, a 5th-century Christian martyr and bishop of Edessa (present-day Şanlıurfa, Turkey). He is venerated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches.
Another individual of note was Marris the Philosopher, a 6th-century Syriac scholar and theologian who wrote extensively on topics such as logic, metaphysics, and Christian theology. His works were influential in the development of Syriac Christian thought during the Byzantine era.
In the 9th century, a Muslim scholar and historian named Marris ibn al-Mundhir compiled an important chronicle titled "Kitab al-Awail" (Book of Beginnings), which recorded various events and histories from the early Islamic period.
During the Crusades, a knight named Marris de Montferrat fought alongside Richard the Lionheart and played a significant role in the Third Crusade (1189–1192). He is mentioned in several contemporary accounts of the Crusades.
In the 15th century, a Coptic Christian monk named Marris of Alexandria was renowned for his ascetic lifestyle and his writings on spiritual matters. He is still venerated in the Coptic Orthodox Church today.
People
Marris + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marris 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
Marris: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marris?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 26 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marris 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 13,182,859 US residents.
Is Marris a common name?
We classify Marris as "Very Rare". It ranks above 44.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 68 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marris most popular?
The single biggest year for Marris was 1940, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marris is about 63 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Marris in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 142 people with the name Marris, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #46,696 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 Marris 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 Marris?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Marris on both sides of the split. Of the 138 people counted with this name, 71 were male (51.4%) and 67 were female (48.6%). 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 Marris?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marris is White at 47.2%. The next largest groups are Black (36.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.9%). 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 Marris most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Marris in the 2020 Census, accounting for 47.2% (67 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 Marris in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Marris a male name?
Yes, 91.2% of people registered as Marris 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 Marris still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Marris 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 Marris 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 are named Marris?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.