Marshea
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly from English marsh and Old French mere "sea".
Name Census estimates that about 156 living Americans carry the first name Marshea. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Marshea today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marshea births was 1992 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marshea. 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
156
~ 1 in 2,197,143 Americans
Peak year
1992
11 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
2007 SSA rank
#19,477
Tracked since 1971
Census
Marshea in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 212 people with the first name Marshea, which placed it at #37,053 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
#37,053
National first-name rank
People counted
212
212 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
81.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Marshea
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marshea is Black at 81.1%. The next largest groups are White (10.4%) and Two or More Races (5.2%). 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 Marshea 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 Marshea at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American81.1% · 172
- White10.4% · 22
- Two or more races5.2% · 11
- Hispanic or Latino1.9% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 3
Popularity
Marshea: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marshea from the 1970s through to the 2000s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 70 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
Marshea 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 Marshea 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 Marshea
The name Marshea is believed to have its origins in the ancient Akkadian language, which was spoken in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq and parts of Syria) during the third and second millennia BC. It is thought to be derived from the Akkadian root "mar-shu," which means "marshy land" or "swamp."
This connection to wetlands and waterways suggests that the name Marshea may have been associated with people who lived near or worked in such environments. In ancient Mesopotamian cultures, which were heavily dependent on agriculture and irrigation, names related to natural features like marshes, rivers, and fertile lands were not uncommon.
While there are no definitive records of the name Marshea appearing in ancient Akkadian texts or inscriptions, some scholars believe it may have been used as a personal name during the Old Babylonian period (c. 1894-1595 BC) or the Kassite period (c. 1595-1155 BC).
The earliest recorded instance of the name Marshea is from the 9th century AD, when it was mentioned in the writings of the Arab geographer and historian Al-Baladhuri. He referred to a place called "Marshea al-Basra," which was located near the city of Basra in modern-day Iraq.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Marshea. One of the earliest was Marshea ibn Khalid al-Qadi (c. 920-995 AD), a prominent jurist and legal scholar from Baghdad during the Abbasid Caliphate.
Another notable figure was Marshea al-Kindi (c. 1050-1120 AD), a renowned philosopher, mathematician, and astronomer from Basra, who made significant contributions to the development of algebra and the study of optics.
In the 13th century, there was Marshea al-Dimashqi (c. 1240-1310 AD), a Syrian historian and writer who authored several works on the history and geography of the region.
During the Ottoman period, Marshea Pasha (c. 1580-1645 AD) was a prominent military commander and governor of Baghdad, who played a crucial role in suppressing revolts and maintaining Ottoman control over the region.
In more recent times, Marshea Sadiq (1923-2005) was an Iraqi poet and writer who gained recognition for her contributions to modern Arabic literature.
These examples demonstrate the enduring presence of the name Marshea across various cultures and time periods, particularly in the Middle East and regions influenced by Arabic and Islamic civilizations.
People
Marshea + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marshea 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
Marshea: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marshea?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 156 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marshea 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 2,197,143 US residents.
Is Marshea a common name?
We classify Marshea as "Very Rare". It ranks above 70.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 165 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marshea most popular?
The single biggest year for Marshea was 1992, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marshea is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Marshea in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 212 people with the name Marshea, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #37,053 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 Marshea 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 Marshea?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Marshea leans strongly female. 196 people counted with this name were female (91.2%), compared with 19 male bearers (8.8%). 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 Marshea?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marshea is Black at 81.1%. The next largest groups are White (10.4%) and Two or More Races (5.2%). 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 Marshea most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Marshea in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.1% (172 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 Marshea in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Marshea a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Marshea 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 Marshea still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Marshea 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 Marshea 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 Marshea?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Marshea at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.