Given name & surname · also Middle English
Marsh
“from the marshland”
Marsh is used as a given name and a surname. One English interpretation is “from the marshland.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
One English interpretation is “from the marshland.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Middle English.
How it developed
It entered given-name use through an existing surname.
The story
Its naming history includes the use of a family name as a given name.
Marsh through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 414
- 403 boys · 11 girls
- Most popular year
- 1954
- 15 babies
- 2025
- 5
- #13,222 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- +100%
- Rising fast
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 5 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 13,222 among boys’ names. The recent annual counts are too incomplete to establish a ten-year comparison. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 510 as a first name in 2020; 59,877 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.
Marsh’s family of names
Marsh is a short form of Marshall. Marsh has a related form in Marshe.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 2
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Across languages 1
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Marsh
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Marsh, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Artis
“lofty hill; noble” · “rock”
94% boys · 6% girls
Al
“one who counsels the elves” · “one who is noble and bright”
>99% boys
Carnell
“the defender of the castle”
>99% boys
Stanford
“from the stony ford”
>99% boys
Jac
Jac is a masculine given name from English. It is used in Welsh.
>99% boys
Monte
“of the steep mountain” · “from the pointed mountain”
99% boys · 1% girls
Mickey
“who is like God?”
87% boys · 13% girls
Hal
“the ruler of the house” · “home”
>99% boys