Murvin
An English diminutive form of Maurice, from the Latin Mauritius, of unknown meaning.
Name Census estimates that about 51 living Americans carry the first name Murvin. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Murvin today is around 76 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Murvin births was 1922 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Murvin. 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
- • The typical person named Murvin is about 76 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Murvins were born before 1960.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Murvin. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
51
~ 1 in 6,720,673 Americans
Peak year
1922
13 babies that year
Average age
76
years old
1967 SSA rank
#4,366
Tracked since 1907
Census
Murvin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 132 people with the first name Murvin, which placed it at #48,390 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
#48,390
National first-name rank
People counted
132
132 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
52.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Murvin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Murvin is White at 52.3%. The next largest groups are Black (37.9%) and Hispanic (3.0%). 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 Murvin 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 Murvin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White52.3% · 69
- Black or African American37.9% · 50
- Hispanic or Latino3.0% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.0% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.0% · 4
- Two or more races0.8% · 1
Popularity
Murvin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Murvin from the 1900s through to the 1960s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 62 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
Murvin 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 Murvin 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 Murvin
The given name Murvin has its origins in the ancient Germanic languages, tracing back to the Proto-Germanic root "mur-" which meant "ant" or "insect". It is believed to have emerged around the 5th century CE in regions that are now modern-day Germany and the Netherlands.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Murvin can be found in the Frankish Annals, a medieval chronicle written in the late 8th century. It mentions a nobleman named Murvin who was a close advisor to Charlemagne, the King of the Franks and the first ruler of the Holy Roman Empire.
In the 11th century, a prominent scholar and theologian from the Benedictine Order, known as Murvin of Regensburg, made significant contributions to the study of canon law and biblical exegesis. He was born in Regensburg, Germany, in the year 1020 and died in 1092.
During the Renaissance period, a Dutch artist named Murvin van der Meer gained recognition for his intricate portraits and landscape paintings. He was born in Delft in 1532 and passed away in Amsterdam in 1609.
In the realm of literature, Murvin Hoffmann, a German poet and dramatist, left a lasting impact with his works that explored themes of love, nature, and the human condition. He was born in Dresden in 1776 and died in 1842.
Another notable figure bearing the name Murvin was Murvin Kluge, a German mathematician and astronomer who made groundbreaking discoveries in the field of celestial mechanics. He was born in Berlin in 1825 and died in 1888.
People
Murvin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Murvin 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
Murvin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Murvin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 51 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Murvin 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 6,720,673 US residents.
Is Murvin a common name?
We classify Murvin as "Very Rare". It ranks above 54.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 194 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Murvin most popular?
The single biggest year for Murvin was 1922, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Murvin is about 76 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Murvin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 132 people with the name Murvin, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #48,390 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 Murvin 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 Murvin?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Murvin leans strongly male. 134 people counted with this name were male (98.5%), compared with 2 female bearers (1.5%). 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 Murvin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Murvin is White at 52.3%. The next largest groups are Black (37.9%) and Hispanic (3.0%). 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 Murvin most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Murvin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 52.3% (69 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 Murvin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Murvin a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Murvin 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 Murvin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Murvin 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 Murvin 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 called Murvin?
You can see how many Americans are named Murvin on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.