Given name & surname
Mario
“a manly man”
Mario is used as a given name and a surname. One Latin interpretation is “a manly man.” Its derivation is not certain.
Original LatinMarius
Meaning & origin
What it means
One Latin interpretation is “a manly man.” Its derivation is not certain.
Where it comes from
A possible origin is Latin, although the derivation remains uncertain.
How it developed
In Italian usage, Mario is a masculine form of Maria.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1897. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Mario through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 152,403
- 151,310 boys · 1,093 girls
- Most popular year
- 1980
- 2,974 babies
- 2025
- 721
- #438 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −22%
- Easing
Where it’s given
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 721 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 438 among boys’ names. Average annual use for boys was 22.2% lower in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for boys was 2,936 in 1980. In 2025, Texas had the largest reported state-level birth count for boys with this name (166). Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 213,074 as a first name in 2020; 759 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Mario’s family of names
In Italian usage, Mario has a diminutive in MARIOLINO. In Italian usage, Mario is a masculine form of Maria. In Esperanto usage, Mario has a conventional equivalent in the English form Mary.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Mario has relatives in 31 languages. Lines run from its Latin roots to each of them.
Latinwhere Mario comes from · 1 name
Nicknames & forms 10
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
- Marianvariant · German
- Marianovariant
- Marionvariant
- Mariusvariant · German, Latin
- Marisvariant · German
- Marriolikely variant
- Mareonvariant
- Mariosvariant
Show 2 moreShow fewer
Spellings & scripts 4
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 28
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Mario
- Mario DraghiItalian economist, academic, banker and politician; former prime minister of Italyborn 1947
- Mario BalotelliItalian association football playerborn 1990
- Mario PuzoAmerican author, screenwriter, and journalist1920–1999
- Mario MontiItalian economist and politician (1943-)
- Mario GötzeGerman association football playerborn 1992
- Mario MandžukićCroatian association football player (born 1986)
- Mario GómezGerman-Spanish association football player (born 1985)
- Mario MolinaMexican chemical engineer (1943–2020)
- Mario KempesArgentine footballer (born 1954)
Characters named Mario: Mario (the Mario video game franchise).
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Appears in
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Majencio
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Mandonio
Mandonio is a given name, possibly from Latin. It is used in Spanish.
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