Humanverse

Mark vs Marshell

American parents have registered 1,366,672 Marks since 1880, against 1,561 Marshells. Mark is still ahead, with 1,416 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Mark against Marshell, 1880 to 2025 0 15k 30k 45k 60k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Mark Marshell

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

Mark 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 1930, when Mark had 603 and Marshell had 25.

Side by side

  Mark Marshell
Total US births 1,366,6721,561
Most in one year 58,86043
Babies in 2025 1,416under 5
Estimated living today 1.1 million970
Median age today 5957
Peak year 19601930
Best rank 6th boys1,463rd boys
Rank in 2025 244thunranked
First recorded 18801913
Girls / boys 4,496 / 1,362,176636 / 925

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 Marks alive today are over 59; half the Marshells are over 57. That is 2 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

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