Martin
A masculine name of Latin origin meaning "warlike" or "belonging to Mars".
Name Census estimates that about 210,454 living Americans carry the first name Martin. It sits at #308 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (99.5% of registrations). The average person named Martin today is around 51 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Martin births was 1963 (6,088 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Martin. 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 Martin with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Martin is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 1,476 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
210K
~ 1 in 1,629 Americans
Peak year
1963
6,088 babies that year
Average age
51
years old
2024 SSA rank
#308
Tracked since 1880
Census
Martin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 271,880 people with the first name Martin, which placed it at #197 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
#197
National first-name rank
People counted
272K
271,880 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
90.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
50.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Martin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Martin is White at 50.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (41.4%) and Black (4.5%). 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 Martin 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 Martin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White50.3% · 136,733
- Hispanic or Latino41.4% · 112,601
- Black or African American4.5% · 12,218
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 4,943
- Two or more races1.5% · 3,960
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 1,425
Gender
Gender distribution for Martin
Out of the 316,023 babies given the name Martin since 1880, 99.5% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Martin as a male name
- Ranked #308 in 2024
- 1,101 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1963 (6,070 births)
Martin as a female name
- Ranked #18,273 in 2014
- 5 female births in 2014
- Peak: 1986 (37 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Martin appears almost entirely male. Of the 271,877 people counted with this name, 99.7% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Martin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Martin from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 51,135 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Martin 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 Martin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 3,595 | 5 | 3,600 |
| 1890s | 3,254 | 12 | 3,266 |
| 1900s | 3,346 | 17 | 3,363 |
| 1910s | 16,097 | 96 | 16,193 |
| 1920s | 24,243 | 163 | 24,406 |
| 1930s | 21,927 | 134 | 22,061 |
| 1940s | 31,401 | 96 | 31,497 |
| 1950s | 50,992 | 143 | 51,135 |
| 1960s | 49,116 | 222 | 49,338 |
| 1970s | 24,274 | 189 | 24,463 |
| 1980s | 23,227 | 235 | 23,462 |
| 1990s | 25,327 | 128 | 25,455 |
| 2000s | 18,761 | 31 | 18,792 |
| 2010s | 13,355 | 5 | 13,360 |
| 2020s | 5,632 | 0 | 5,632 |
Geography
Where Martins live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Martin, while Vermont, Wyoming, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 5,937 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Martin
The name Martin is derived from the ancient Roman name Martinus, which is a derivative of the name of the Roman god Mars, who was the god of war. The name first arose in the 1st century AD and was initially only used by Romans. Over time, it spread to other parts of Europe as the Roman Empire expanded.
Martin is a Christian name that gained popularity in Europe during the Middle Ages due to the veneration of Saint Martin of Tours, a 4th-century bishop who was known for his charity and kindness. The legend of Saint Martin cutting his cloak in half to share with a beggar contributed to the widespread use of the name.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Martin can be found in the 6th-century work "Historia Francorum" by Gregory of Tours, which mentions several individuals named Martin. Another early example is Martin of Braga, a 6th-century archbishop and scholar from what is now Portugal.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Martin. These include Martin Luther (1483-1546), the German monk who initiated the Protestant Reformation; Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968), the iconic American civil rights leader; Martin Van Buren (1782-1862), the 8th President of the United States; Martin Buber (1878-1965), the Austrian-born Israeli philosopher; and Martin Scorsese (born 1942), the acclaimed American film director.
The name Martin has been popular across various cultures and regions, including Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and England. It has also been widely used in the Christian tradition, with numerous saints and religious figures bearing the name.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Martin
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Martin Balsam
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Martin Biron
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Martin Brest
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Martin Brodeur
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Martin Campbell
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Martin Compston
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Martin Davidson
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Martin Donovan
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Martin Gelinas
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Martin Goldman
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Martin Henderson
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Martin King
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Martin Landau
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Martin Lapointe
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Martin Lawrence
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Martin Milner
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Martin Oneil
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Martin Ritt
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Martin Rosen
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Martin Sheen
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Martin Short
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Martin Stlouis
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Martin Straka
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Martin Truex
People
Martin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Martin 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
Martin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Martin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 210,454 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Martin 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 1,629 US residents.
Is Martin a common name?
We classify Martin as "Common". It ranks above 99.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 316,023 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Martin most popular?
The single biggest year for Martin was 1963, when 6,088 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Martin is about 51 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Martin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 271,880 people with the name Martin, or 90.02 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #197 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 Martin 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 Martin?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Martin appears almost entirely male. Of the 271,877 people counted with this name, 99.7% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Martin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Martin is White at 50.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (41.4%) and Black (4.5%). 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 Martin most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Martin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 50.3% (136,733 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 Martin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Martin a male name?
Yes, 99.5% of people registered as Martin 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 Martin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Martin 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 Martin 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 have Martin as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Martin, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.