Humanverse

Mark vs Marshelle

American parents have registered 1,366,672 Marks since 1880, against 554 Marshelles. Mark is still ahead, with 1,416 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Mark Marshelle

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 2001, when Mark had 4,764 and Marshelle had 7.

Side by side

  Mark Marshelle
Total US births 1,366,672554
Most in one year 58,86021
Babies in 2025 1,416under 5
Estimated living today 1.1 million510
Median age today 5953
Peak year 19601963
Best rank 6th boys2,704th girls
Rank in 2025 244thunranked
First recorded 18801947
Girls / boys 4,496 / 1,362,176554 / 0

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 Marshelles are over 53. That is 6 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: Mark and Marshelle.