Marvella
A feminine name of uncertain origin, perhaps a combination of "marvel" and "ella".
Name Census estimates that about 899 living Americans carry the first name Marvella. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Marvella today is around 45 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marvella births was 1927 (35 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marvella. 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 Marvella with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
899
~ 1 in 381,262 Americans
Peak year
1927
35 babies that year
Average age
45
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,884
Tracked since 1910
Census
Marvella in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,053 people with the first name Marvella, which placed it at #11,984 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
#11,984
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,053 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
35.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Marvella
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marvella is Hispanic at 35.5%. The next largest groups are Black (33.1%) and White (27.0%). 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 Marvella 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 Marvella at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino35.5% · 374
- Black or African American33.1% · 349
- White27.0% · 284
- Two or more races2.7% · 28
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 12
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 6
Popularity
Marvella: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marvella from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 214 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Marvella remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Marvella 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 Marvella during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Marvellas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Iowa, Illinois recorded the most babies named Marvella, while Texas, Illinois, Iowa recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 17 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Marvella
The name Marvella is a feminine given name of uncertain origin, but it is believed to have its roots in Latin and Spanish languages. The first part of the name, "Marv," is thought to be derived from the Latin word "marvus," meaning "wonderful" or "marvelous." The suffix "-ella" is a common diminutive in Spanish, often used to create affectionate or diminutive forms of names.
One possible explanation for the name's origin is that it may have been derived from the Spanish name "Maravilla," which directly translates to "wonder" or "marvel." This name could have been shortened or modified over time to create the variation "Marvella."
While there is limited historical information about the name's earliest uses, some records indicate that it may have been used in certain regions of Spain and Latin America during the 16th and 17th centuries. However, its usage was likely quite rare and localized during those times.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Marvella in historical records are relatively scarce. One notable example is Marvella Bayh, an American activist and wife of former U.S. Senator Birch Bayh, who was born in 1925 and passed away in 1994. Another individual with this name was Marvella Holbrook, an American author and poet who lived from 1929 to 2019.
Other historical figures bearing the name Marvella include Marvella Armitage, an American actress who appeared in several films and TV shows in the mid-20th century. Marvella Smith was a Canadian artist and painter known for her landscape and portrait works, born in 1930 and active throughout the latter half of the 20th century.
Additionally, there is a record of a Marvella Hernandez, a Spanish-American educator and community leader who advocated for bilingual education in the United States during the late 20th century.
While not an exhaustive list, these examples showcase the use of the name Marvella throughout different periods and regions, although it has remained a relatively uncommon and unique name compared to more popular alternatives.
People
Marvella + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marvella 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
Marvella: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marvella?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 899 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marvella 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 381,262 US residents.
Is Marvella a common name?
We classify Marvella as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,526 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marvella most popular?
The single biggest year for Marvella was 1927, when 35 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marvella is about 45 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Marvella in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,053 people with the name Marvella, or 0.35 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,984 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 Marvella 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 Marvella?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Marvella appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,058 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Marvella?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Marvella is Hispanic at 35.5%. The next largest groups are Black (33.1%) and White (27.0%). 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 Marvella most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Marvella in the 2020 Census, accounting for 35.5% (374 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 Marvella in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Marvella a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Marvella 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 Marvella still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Marvella 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 Marvella 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 Marvella?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.