Maruice
Derived from Latin, a masculine name meaning "dark-skinned" or "Moorish".
Name Census estimates that about 157 living Americans carry the first name Maruice. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Maruice today is around 46 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Maruice births was 1980 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Maruice. 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
157
~ 1 in 2,183,149 Americans
Peak year
1980
12 babies that year
Average age
46
years old
1994 SSA rank
#8,415
Tracked since 1967
Census
Maruice in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 122 people with the first name Maruice, which placed it at #49,985 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
#49,985
National first-name rank
People counted
122
122 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
84.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Maruice
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maruice is Black at 84.4%. The next largest groups are White (9.0%) and Two or More Races (4.1%). 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 Maruice 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 Maruice at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American84.4% · 103
- White9.0% · 11
- Two or more races4.1% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 2
- Hispanic or Latino0.8% · 1
Popularity
Maruice: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Maruice from the 1960s through to the 1990s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 66 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1980s peak, Maruice remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Maruice 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 Maruice 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 Maruice
The name Maurice has its origins in the Latin name Mauritius, which was derived from the word "Maurus" meaning "Moorish" or "dark-skinned". This name was likely given to individuals with darker complexions or those who hailed from northern Africa. The name Mauritius was later adopted by the Romans and became a popular name throughout the Roman Empire.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Maurice can be found in the 3rd century AD, when it was borne by a Roman soldier and Christian martyr named Maurice. According to legend, Maurice was a commander of the Theban Legion, a Roman unit that was executed for refusing to renounce their Christian faith during the reign of Emperor Maximian.
During the Middle Ages, the name Maurice gained popularity in Europe, particularly in France and England. One notable figure from this period was Maurice of Nassau (1567-1625), a Dutch prince and military commander who played a significant role in the Dutch Revolt against Spanish rule.
In the 16th century, the name Maurice was also associated with Prince Maurice of Orange (1567-1625), a prominent military leader and Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic. He was instrumental in leading the Dutch to victory against Spain in the Eighty Years' War.
Another famous bearer of the name was Maurice Ravel (1875-1937), a French composer known for his innovative and influential works, such as "Boléro" and "Daphnis et Chloé". His compositions were highly influential in the development of 20th-century music.
In the literary world, Maurice Maeterlinck (1862-1949) was a Belgian playwright and poet who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911. His works, such as "Pelléas et Mélisande" and "The Life of the Bee", explored themes of spirituality and the human condition.
Finally, Maurice Richard (1921-2000) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who played for the Montreal Canadiens. He was widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1961.
People
Maruice + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Maruice 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
Maruice: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Maruice?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 157 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Maruice 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 2,183,149 US residents.
Is Maruice a common name?
We classify Maruice as "Very Rare". It ranks above 70.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 168 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Maruice most popular?
The single biggest year for Maruice was 1980, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Maruice is about 46 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Maruice in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 122 people with the name Maruice, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #49,985 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 Maruice 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 Maruice?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Maruice leans strongly male. 119 people counted with this name were male (98.3%), compared with 2 female bearers (1.7%). 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 Maruice?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maruice is Black at 84.4%. The next largest groups are White (9.0%) and Two or More Races (4.1%). 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 Maruice most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Maruice in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.4% (103 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 Maruice in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Maruice a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Maruice 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 Maruice still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Maruice 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 Maruice 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 share the name Maruice?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.