Marshell
A masculine name derived from the Old French word "mareschal", meaning "horse servant".
Name Census estimates that about 979 living Americans carry the first name Marshell. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 59.3% of registrations being male. The average person named Marshell today is around 58 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marshell births was 1970 (43 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marshell. 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
- • Marshell started out as a boys' name but over the decades crossed over and is now given to girls far more often.
- • Marshell sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
People living today
979
~ 1 in 350,107 Americans
Peak year
1970
43 babies that year
Average age
58
years old
2007 SSA rank
#11,847
Tracked since 1913
Census
Marshell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 804 people with the first name Marshell, which placed it at #14,601 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
#14,601
National first-name rank
People counted
804
804 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
59.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Marshell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marshell is Black at 59.7%. The next largest groups are White (33.1%) and Two or More Races (3.7%). 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 Marshell 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 Marshell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American59.7% · 480
- White33.1% · 266
- Two or more races3.7% · 30
- Hispanic or Latino1.7% · 14
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 6
Gender
Gender distribution for Marshell
Marshell is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 1,561 total registrations, 925 (59.3%) were male and 636 (40.7%) were female.
Marshell as a male name
- Ranked #11,847 in 2007
- 6 male births in 2007
- Peak: 1930 (25 births)
Marshell as a female name
- Ranked #16,423 in 2006
- 6 female births in 2006
- Peak: 1970 (31 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Marshell on both sides of the split. Of the 807 people counted with this name, 258 were male (32.0%) and 549 were female (68.0%).
Popularity
Marshell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marshell from the 1910s through to the 2000s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 300 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Marshell 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 Marshell during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Marshells live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Mississippi, Alabama, Kentucky recorded the most babies named Marshell, while North Carolina, Kentucky, Alabama recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 11 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Marshell
The name Marshell is believed to have originated in the Middle Ages, deriving from the Old French word "mareschal," which meant "horse servant" or "stable keeper." This term itself came from the Frankish word "marah," meaning "horse," and "skalks," meaning "servant." The name was initially used as an occupational title for those responsible for tending to horses, particularly in noble households and military contexts.
During the medieval period, the name Marshell gained prominence as a surname, often borne by individuals who held the position of Marshal, a high-ranking military officer responsible for commanding armies and overseeing the care of horses and equipment. The role of the Marshal was crucial in the era of mounted warfare, and those bearing this title were highly respected.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Marshell can be found in the 13th-century English historical records, where it appears as a variant spelling of the surname "Marshall." In the year 1235, a man named William Marshell is mentioned in the Curia Regis Rolls, which documented legal proceedings in England during that time.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Marshell. One such figure was John Marshell (1598-1682), an English clergyman and author who served as the Master of Christ's College, Cambridge. Another prominent bearer of the name was William Marshell (1665-1727), an English philosopher and mathematician who made significant contributions to the field of optics.
In the realm of literature, Marshell Everett (1834-1905) was an American author and editor who wrote extensively on historical and religious topics. He is best known for his work "The Life of Christ" and his contributions to the New York Independent newspaper.
Another individual of note was Marshell Peck (1904-1964), an American artist and illustrator who gained recognition for his works depicting Native American subjects. His paintings and drawings were widely exhibited and are now part of various museum collections.
Lastly, Marshell Harris (1940-2018) was a renowned American football player who played as a defensive back for the Houston Oilers and the Miami Dolphins in the 1960s and 1970s. He was a key member of the Dolphins' team that achieved a perfect season in 1972, winning the Super Bowl that year.
While the name Marshell has its roots in the equestrian and military spheres of the Middle Ages, it has since transcended these origins and been adopted by individuals across various fields and cultures throughout history.
People
Marshell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marshell 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
Marshell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marshell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 979 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marshell 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 350,107 US residents.
Is Marshell a common name?
We classify Marshell as "Very Rare". It ranks above 90% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,561 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marshell most popular?
The single biggest year for Marshell was 1970, when 43 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marshell is about 58 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Marshell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 804 people with the name Marshell, or 0.27 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,601 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 Marshell 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 Marshell?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Marshell on both sides of the split. Of the 807 people counted with this name, 258 were male (32.0%) and 549 were female (68.0%). 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 Marshell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marshell is Black at 59.7%. The next largest groups are White (33.1%) and Two or More Races (3.7%). 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 Marshell most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Marshell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 59.7% (480 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 Marshell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Marshell a male name?
Yes, 59.3% of people registered as Marshell 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 Marshell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Marshell 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 Marshell 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 Marshell?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.