Humanverse

Marsha vs Marshae

American parents have registered 104,442 Marshas since 1880, against 584 Marshaes. Marsha is still ahead, with 14 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Marsha against Marshae, 1880 to 2025 0 1.5k 3k 4.5k 6k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Marsha Marshae

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

Marsha has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1908 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2008, when Marsha had 25 and Marshae had 15.

Side by side

  Marsha Marshae
Total US births 104,442584
Most in one year 5,59034
Babies in 2025 14under 5
Estimated living today 80,000570
Median age today 7028
Peak year 19521993
Best rank 75th girls3,290th girls
Rank in 2025 7,491stunranked
First recorded 19081971
Girls / boys 104,191 / 251584 / 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 Marshas alive today are over 70; half the Marshaes are over 28. That is 42 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: Marsha and Marshae.