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Boy · Latin
Marcellus
Say it: mar-SEL-us
Meaning
Diminutive of Marcus.
Certainscholars agree on this meaning.
A Roman cognomen kept by saints and popes; Marcel and Marcelo were common in 20th-century France and Brazil.
Its wave through time
Rising now
In the United States
- 8,194 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 2020, about 1 in 5,200 boys
- 326 babies in 2020
Through the ages
Used by
The family of the name
| Italian | Marcello |
|---|---|
| Spanish | Marcelo |
| French | Marcel |
| Polish | Marceli |
| Portuguese | Marcelo |
Famous bearers
- Marcus Claudius Marcellus, Roman general
- Pope Marcellus I
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- Roman literature and history (Livy, Cicero, Tacitus and others)
- Lives of the saints and early Christian martyrologies
- National birth statistics of European countries source
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.