Martial

Boys' name

Roman cognomen

Martial has been given to 47 babies in the U.S. since 1919. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1961, with 6 recorded.

Babies named Martial, 2015

1 in 740,000

Martial over time, 1880–2025

Boys

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Martial: meaning, origin, and history

Roman cognomen

Latin

What Martial means

Martial means “Roman cognomen”, associated with Martialis.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Latin Martialis (“Roman cognomen”), from martiālis (“belonging or dedicated to the Mars, the Roman god of war, or to war”), from Mārs (“the god Mars; the planet Mars”) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship from nouns).

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Martial (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Martial is used in English and French. Its origins include Latin.

Martial comes through Latin Martialis.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Martial is pronounced /ˈmɑɹʃəl/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 47 boys were recorded with the name Martial between 1919 and 2015. Its highest annual count was 6 in 1961; its best national rank was #3,907 in 1961.

How common is Martial?

Martial had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2015, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2015: 1 in 740,000; 5 of 3,701,574 births
Among boys only: 1 in 383,000; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 2015: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 513,148 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Martial 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 2015 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 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 513,148 children born in 2015 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Martial. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Martials were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Martial was born before 2005 — so the typical Martial is around 20 today.

Median birth year: 2005; About 20 years old
Biggest decade: 2000s; 31.9% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 76.6%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 42; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

2000s — 31.9% of all recorded uses (15).

Is Martial 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: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 1961 (6)
Years since peak: 64; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Very steady; 0% average annual change
Best rank ever: #3,907; 1961

Spellings of Martial

Martial is not the most common spelling — Martin is, with 86.7% against Martial's 0.01%.

Martin86.7%315,561
Matias7.0%25,387
Marshal1.5%5,485
Maria1.2%4,278
Mattias0.74%2,681
Martell0.72%2,630
Marcial0.55%2,013
Martha0.55%1,991

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.

Martial around the world

Where Martial 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
2016–2017
#4,812
in 2017
France
1900–2025
#1,113
in 2025

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics and Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques. ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0.

Martial by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #3,907; 1961
Peak year: 1961; 6 that year
First recorded: 1919
Last recorded: 2015
All-time count: 47
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Martial

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

Marcial Marceau Marsai Martae Marvion Marsiah Margues Markael Maryann Marquil Marken Martina Marchel Marvins Markail Markai Markeil Markeal Marcelous Marnell Marreon Marckus Mariel Markece

Sibling names for Martial

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

For a sister

Jeanetta Juli Carleen Juliann Danita Lorri Donita Jannette

For a brother

Art Toney Lenny Lindsay Tod Ward Rod Curtiss

Explore around Martial

Top names of 1961, Martial's peak year The 1960s in full Other names that peaked in 1961 Boys' names starting with M