Marsela
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly derived from Mars, the Roman god of war.
Name Census estimates that about 240 living Americans carry the first name Marsela. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Marsela today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marsela births was 1995 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marsela. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Marsela with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
240
~ 1 in 1,428,143 Americans
Peak year
1995
14 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2013 SSA rank
#14,122
Tracked since 1975
Census
Marsela in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 576 people with the first name Marsela, which placed it at #18,647 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
#18,647
National first-name rank
People counted
576
576 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
60.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Marsela
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marsela is Hispanic at 60.6%. The next largest groups are White (34.9%) and Black (1.6%). 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 Marsela 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 Marsela at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino60.6% · 349
- White34.9% · 201
- Black or African American1.6% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 9
- Two or more races0.9% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 3
Popularity
Marsela: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marsela from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 80 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
Marsela 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 Marsela during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Marselas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Marsela
The name Marsela is believed to have its origins in the Latin language, tracing back to ancient Roman times. It is derived from the Latin word "Marcellus," which was a Roman family name. The root of "Marcellus" is thought to be "marcere," meaning "to be withered" or "to be faded."
In ancient Roman history, the name Marcellus was borne by several notable individuals, including Marcus Claudius Marcellus, a Roman consul and general who played a significant role in the Second Punic War against Carthage in the 3rd century BC. The female form, Marsela, likely emerged as a derivative during the later centuries of the Roman Empire.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Marsela can be found in the writings of the Roman historian Tacitus, who mentioned a woman named Marsela in his work "Annals" from the 1st century AD. However, specific details about this individual are scarce.
Throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance period, the name Marsela remained in use, primarily in regions with strong Roman cultural influences, such as Italy and parts of the Mediterranean. In the 15th century, a notable figure named Marsela Malatesta (1370-1414) was a noblewoman from the Italian city of Rimini, known for her patronage of the arts and her involvement in the political affairs of her time.
In the 16th century, a Spanish woman named Marsela de San Román (1522-1590) gained recognition for her religious devotion and her efforts in establishing educational institutions for girls in Spain. She is venerated as a Blessed by the Catholic Church.
Another prominent bearer of the name was Marsela Abele (1656-1724), a German writer and poet from the Baroque period, who published several works of poetry and religious literature during her lifetime.
In the 19th century, Marsela Zamenhof (1843-1924) was a notable figure as the wife of L.L. Zamenhof, the creator of the constructed language Esperanto. She played a significant role in promoting and spreading the use of Esperanto alongside her husband.
These are just a few examples of individuals who carried the name Marsela throughout history, reflecting its enduring presence across various cultures and time periods, albeit with varying degrees of prominence and recognition.
People
Marsela + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marsela 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
Marsela: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marsela?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 240 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marsela 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 1,428,143 US residents.
Is Marsela a common name?
We classify Marsela as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 249 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marsela most popular?
The single biggest year for Marsela was 1995, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marsela is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Marsela in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 576 people with the name Marsela, or 0.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,647 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 Marsela 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 Marsela?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Marsela appears almost entirely female. Of the 579 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Marsela?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marsela is Hispanic at 60.6%. The next largest groups are White (34.9%) and Black (1.6%). 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 Marsela most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Marsela in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.6% (349 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 Marsela in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Marsela a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Marsela 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 Marsela still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Marsela 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 Marsela 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 Marsela?
For a quick modern take, check how many people have the name Marsela on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.