Given name & surname · also Middle English
Marshal
Marshal is a masculine given name from Middle English.
Meaning & origin
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1880. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Marshal through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 5,559
- 5,485 boys · 74 girls
- Most popular year
- 1999
- 95 babies
- 2025
- 34
- #3,421 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −6%
- Steady
Where it’s given
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 34 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 3,421 among boys’ names. Average annual use for boys was 6.3% lower in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for boys was 95 in 1999. In 2025, Texas had the largest reported state-level birth count for boys with this name (5). Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 3,855 as a first name in 2020; a sample rank of No. 10,460 among surnames in 1990.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Marshal’s family of names
Marshal has a related form in Marshall. In English usage, Marshal has a related form in Marshall.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 1
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Across languages 2
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Marshal
- Marshal JohnsonNigerian association football playerborn 1989
- Marshal ManengkeiDutch composer, record producer and writer1949–2017
- Marshal Henry WrubelAmerican astrophysicist1924–1968
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Marshal, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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