Marvel
A name likely inspired by the sense of "something wonderful or astonishing".
Name Census estimates that about 2,037 living Americans carry the first name Marvel. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 79.3% of registrations being female. The average person named Marvel today is around 46 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marvel births was 1929 (181 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marvel. 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 Marvel with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Marvel was once a predominantly female name but has become increasingly popular for boys in recent decades.
People living today
2.0K
~ 1 in 168,264 Americans
Peak year
1929
181 babies that year
Average age
46
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,791
Tracked since 1889
Census
Marvel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,485 people with the first name Marvel, which placed it at #6,453 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
#6,453
National first-name rank
People counted
2.5K
2,485 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
53.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Marvel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marvel is White at 53.5%. The next largest groups are Black (28.7%) and Hispanic (11.0%). 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 Marvel 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 Marvel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White53.5% · 1,330
- Black or African American28.7% · 713
- Hispanic or Latino11.0% · 274
- Two or more races3.0% · 74
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.9% · 71
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 23
Gender
Gender distribution for Marvel
Marvel is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 6,533 total registrations, 1,352 (20.7%) were male and 5,181 (79.3%) were female.
Marvel as a male name
- Ranked #5,791 in 2024
- 16 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2019 (32 births)
Marvel as a female name
- Ranked #7,434 in 2024
- 15 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1929 (171 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Marvel on both sides of the split. Of the 2,486 people counted with this name, 747 were male (30.0%) and 1,739 were female (70.0%).
Popularity
Marvel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marvel from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 1,532 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Marvel 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 Marvel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Marvels live
The SSA's state-level files cover 23 states and territories. Minnesota, Iowa, Michigan recorded the most babies named Marvel, while New York, Oklahoma, Montana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 104 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Marvel
The name Marvel has its origins in the Latin word "mirabilis," which means "wonderful" or "marvelous." This name was likely first used during the early days of the Roman Empire, around the 1st century AD.
In ancient Roman texts and records, the word "mirabilis" was often used to describe something extraordinary or awe-inspiring. It's believed that the name Marvel was derived from this word and initially given to children as a way to express the parents' sense of wonder and joy at their birth.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Marvel can be found in the writings of the Roman philosopher and statesman, Seneca the Younger, who lived from 4 BC to 65 AD. He refers to a man named Marvel in one of his letters, suggesting that the name was in use during that time period.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Marvel remained relatively rare, but it did appear in various historical documents and records across Europe. For instance, a French nobleman named Marvel de Montfort is mentioned in the chronicles of the Crusades in the 12th century.
In the Renaissance period, the name Marvel gained some popularity, particularly in Italy. One notable figure from this era was Marvel Vettori, an Italian humanist and scholar who lived from 1435 to 1516. He was known for his work translating and commenting on ancient Greek texts.
During the 17th century, the name Marvel was occasionally used in England and other parts of the British Isles. One example is Marvel Westrop, an English landowner and politician who lived from 1620 to 1692.
In the 19th century, the name Marvel experienced a resurgence in popularity, particularly in the United States. One famous individual with this name was Marvel Mills, an American lawyer and politician who served as a U.S. Representative from Illinois from 1873 to 1877.
Another notable figure was Marvel Woodbury, an American businessman and philanthropist who lived from 1834 to 1913. He made a fortune in the textile industry and donated significant funds to various educational and cultural institutions.
People
Marvel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marvel 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
Marvel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marvel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,037 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marvel 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 168,264 US residents.
Is Marvel a common name?
We classify Marvel as "Rare". It ranks above 93.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,533 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marvel most popular?
The single biggest year for Marvel was 1929, when 181 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marvel 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 Marvel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,485 people with the name Marvel, or 0.82 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,453 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 Marvel 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 Marvel?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Marvel on both sides of the split. Of the 2,486 people counted with this name, 747 were male (30.0%) and 1,739 were female (70.0%). 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 Marvel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marvel is White at 53.5%. The next largest groups are Black (28.7%) and Hispanic (11.0%). 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 Marvel most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Marvel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 53.5% (1,330 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 Marvel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Marvel a female name?
Yes, 79.3% of people registered as Marvel 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 Marvel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Marvel 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 Marvel 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 Marvel as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Marvel, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.