Marquis
- Pronunciation
- [Mar-quis]
- Gender
- Male
- Meaning
- A Title Name Ranking Below Duke And Above Earl.
- Origin
- French
About the Name Marquis
Marquis is a French noble title transferred to use as a given name, derived from the Medieval Latin marchensis, meaning "lord of the march" — a march being a border territory requiring a resident noble to defend it militarily. In the hierarchy of French and British peerage, a marquis ranked below a duke and above an earl or count, making it one of the most prestigious non-ducal titles available. The name's transfer to American given-name use reflects a long tradition of aspirational title-names in African-American naming culture, where the name carries associations of distinction, dignity, and historical weight.
Two historical figures made the title internationally famous: Marquis de Condorcet, a French mathematician, philosopher, and revolutionary whose work on probability, voting theory, and human progress placed him at the centre of the late Enlightenment; and Marquis de Lafayette, the French aristocrat and military officer whose service in the American Revolutionary War made him a transatlantic symbol of liberty.
Marquis entered the US Social Security top-1000 in 2000 at its peak rank of #422 and maintained a continuous presence in the chart through 2019, a nineteen-year run. In its final charted year it ranked #960 with 223 boys. More than 7,100 boys were named Marquis within the SSA top-1000 era. Variants include Marquez and Marquise, the latter adding an -e that can function as either a masculine elaboration or a feminine adaptation, depending on the family's intent.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Marquis
US Popularity History (2000–2019)
Annual US births named Marquis by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2000 with 586 boys named Marquis (boy rank #422 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2019, ranked #960 for boys (223 US births). That's 538 places below its 2000 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
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Where in the US Is Marquis Most Popular?
Average boy-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's boys-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Marquis the strongest states are Mississippi, South Carolina, Alabama.
Strongest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mississippi | #488 | 27 |
| 2 | South Carolina | #595 | 37 |
| 3 | Alabama | #666 | 22 |
| 4 | Georgia | #718 | 123 |
| 5 | Virginia | #748 | 36 |
| 6 | Louisiana | #795 | 18 |
| 7 | Michigan | #806 | 73 |
| 8 | Illinois | #812 | 67 |
| 9 | Florida | #828 | 154 |
| 10 | Tennessee | #845 | 36 |
Weakest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pennsylvania | #948 | 42 |
| 2 | North Carolina | #860 | 37 |
| 3 | Ohio | #849 | 41 |
| 4 | Missouri | #847 | 25 |
| 5 | Tennessee | #845 | 36 |
| 6 | Florida | #828 | 154 |
| 7 | Illinois | #812 | 67 |
| 8 | Michigan | #806 | 73 |
| 9 | Louisiana | #795 | 18 |
| 10 | Virginia | #748 | 36 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Marquis in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Variant Forms
Famous People Named Marquis
2 notable figures from history and culture who share the name Marquis.
- Marquis de Condorcet was an 18th century French mathematician and philosopher.
- Marquis de Lafayette was a French aristocrat and for the United States in the American Revolutionary War.
Looking for names like Marquis?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Marquis to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Marquis against today's most popular boys-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).