Marsena
An Italian/Latin name with possible meanings "from Marseille" or "woman from Mars".
Name Census estimates that about 51 living Americans carry the first name Marsena. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Marsena today is around 54 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marsena births was 1968 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marsena. 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 Marsena. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
51
~ 1 in 6,720,673 Americans
Peak year
1968
7 babies that year
Average age
54
years old
1983 SSA rank
#8,626
Tracked since 1924
Census
Marsena in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 164 people with the first name Marsena, which placed it at #43,191 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
#43,191
National first-name rank
People counted
164
164 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
57.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Marsena
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marsena is White at 57.9%. The next largest groups are Black (34.1%) and Hispanic (6.7%). 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 Marsena 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 Marsena at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White57.9% · 95
- Black or African American34.1% · 56
- Hispanic or Latino6.7% · 11
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 1
- Two or more races0.6% · 1
Popularity
Marsena: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marsena from the 1920s through to the 1980s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 27 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1970s peak, Marsena remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Marsena 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 Marsena 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 Marsena
The name Marsena is believed to have originated from the ancient Aramaic language, which was widely spoken in the Middle East during the first millennium BC. Its roots can be traced back to the Semitic word "maren," meaning "bitter" or "sour." This suggests that the name may have initially been associated with a person who had a strong or unyielding personality.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Marsena can be found in the Book of Esther, a biblical text from the Hebrew Bible. In this text, Marsena is listed as one of the seven eunuchs who served King Ahasuerus (also known as Xerxes I) of Persia during the 5th century BC. This reference provides historical evidence of the name's use in ancient Persian culture.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Marsena. One such figure was Marsena Patrick Crissy (1807-1890), an American clergyman and educator who served as the president of Kalamazoo College in Michigan from 1848 to 1865. Another was Marsena Rudolph Patrick (1811-1888), an American lawyer and politician who served as the 14th Governor of Virginia from 1888 until his death.
In the 19th century, the name Marsena gained some popularity in the United States. Marsena Emory Stone (1828-1902) was an American politician and lawyer who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio from 1867 to 1871. Marsena Elijah Hunter (1842-1921) was a Union Army soldier during the American Civil War and later served as the 28th Governor of Kansas from 1899 to 1903.
Another notable bearer of the name was Marsena Ellsworth Wertman (1855-1924), an American teacher and politician who served as the 32nd Lieutenant Governor of Ohio from 1919 to 1923. Despite its ancient origins, the name Marsena has remained relatively uncommon throughout history, with only a handful of individuals bearing this unique moniker.
People
Marsena + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marsena 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
Marsena: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marsena?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 51 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marsena 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 6,720,673 US residents.
Is Marsena a common name?
We classify Marsena as "Very Rare". It ranks above 54.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 67 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marsena most popular?
The single biggest year for Marsena was 1968, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marsena is about 54 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Marsena in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 164 people with the name Marsena, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #43,191 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 Marsena 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 Marsena?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Marsena appears almost entirely female. Of the 154 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Marsena?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marsena is White at 57.9%. The next largest groups are Black (34.1%) and Hispanic (6.7%). 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 Marsena most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Marsena in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.9% (95 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 Marsena in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Marsena a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Marsena 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 Marsena still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Marsena 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 Marsena 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 called Marsena?
Find out how many people have the name Marsena on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.