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Markus

#1,336 in 2025Boys' name

Spelling variant of Marcus

Markus has been given to 14,947 babies in the U.S. since 1915. In 2025 it ranked #1,336 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1994, with 396 recorded.

Babies named Markus, 2025

1 in 23,000

Markus over time, 1880–2025

Boys
010020030040018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Markus: meaning, origin, and history

Spelling variant of Marcus

Latin

What Markus means

Markus is a spelling variant of Marcus.

Origin, language, and formation

Markus is used in English, Danish, Estonian, Faroese, Finnish, German, Indonesian and Norwegian and additional language sections. Its origins include Latin.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Marcus.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Finnish, Markus is pronounced /ˈmɑrkus/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 14,947 boys were recorded with the name Markus between 1915 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 396 in 1994; its best national rank was #494 in 1990.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #1,212 in 2020 to #1,336 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #867 in 2015 to #1,336 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Markus?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 23,000
144 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 11,900
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#1,336
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
15,959 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Markus sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 5002%

Put another way: gather 15,959 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Markus. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Markuss were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Markus was born before 1998 — so the typical Markus is around 27 today.

Median birth year
1998
About 27 years old
Biggest decade
1990s
23.3% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
44.1%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
14,815
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1990s — 23.3% of all recorded uses (3,487).

Is Markus rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−114
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−124
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−469
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.55×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
36.4%
Peak was 1994 (396)
Years since peak
31
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
12.3% average annual change
Best rank ever
#494
1990

Spellings of Markus

Markus is not the most common spelling — Mark is, with 75.9% against Markus's 0.83%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Markus is used

Across 2016–2025, Markus was most concentrated in Indiana — about 1 in 6,667 boys, against 1 in 11,616 across all states with data. It was least common in New Jersey (1 in 50,000).

215 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Indiana1 in 6,667
  2. 2Ohio1 in 7,692
  3. 3Michigan1 in 8,333
  4. 4California1 in 9,091
  5. 5New York1 in 9,091
  6. 6Washington1 in 9,091
  7. 7Wisconsin1 in 9,091
  8. 8Illinois1 in 10,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Markus around the world

Where Markus ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2025
    #1,613
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    2001–2025
    #560
    in 2025
  • Northern Ireland
    2009–2016
    #358
    in 2016
  • Ireland
    1971–2024
    #655
    in 2024
  • France
    1970–2025
    #1,690
    in 2025
  • Norway
    1880–2025
    #68
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1991–2024
    #503
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1955–2013
    #239
    in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Norway, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS, NISRA data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, SSB, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Markus

People whose public names include Markus, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Markus in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Markus. Linked forms have their own page here.

MarcMarkMarcoMarekMarkoMarcosMarcusMarqusMárkMarkku

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Markus by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#1,336
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 124
Best rank ever
#494
1990
Peak year
1994
396 that year
First recorded
1915
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
14,947
Count in 2025
144

Names similar to Markus

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

MarcelMarlinMarlonMarceloMarleyMarianoMarkelMarquisMarcosMartezMarquesMartyMarionMarquezMariusMarshalMarquiseMarcellMarinoMarkellMarlowMarkoMariaMarlo

Names with a curve like Markus

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Markus, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

CortezGermanQuintinBriceNigelAlvaroOctavioDeshawnDeangeloKeenanNestorNoe

Sibling names for Markus

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Markus

Top names of 1994, Markus's peak yearThe 1990s in fullOther names that peaked in 1990Boys' names starting with MGerman Boy Names