Humanverse

Marie vs Marshel

American parents have registered 542,270 Maries since 1880, against 533 Marshels. Marie is still ahead, with 474 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Marie against Marshel, 1880 to 2025 0 4k 8k 12k 16k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Marie Marshel

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Marie has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1984, when Marie had 1,611 and Marshel had 6.

Side by side

  Marie Marshel
Total US births 542,270533
Most in one year 12,77420
Babies in 2025 474under 5
Estimated living today 179,000140
Median age today 6669
Peak year 19201923
Best rank 13th girls1,753rd boys
Rank in 2025 617thunranked
First recorded 18801911
Girls / boys 540,077 / 2,19312 / 521

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Marshels alive today are over 69; half the Maries are over 66. That is 3 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Marie and Marshel.