Marv

Boys' name

Possibly marrow + eminent, through Marvin

Marv has been given to 140 babies in the U.S. since 1942. 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 1959, with 14 recorded.

Babies named Marv, 1967

1 in 679,000

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Marv: meaning, origin, and history

Possibly marrow + eminent, through Marvin

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Marv means

Marv belongs to the name family reached through Marv → Marvin. Its meaning is “marrow + eminent”.

Origin, language, and formation

Marv is used in English.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Marvin.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 140 boys were recorded with the name Marv between 1942 and 1967. Its highest annual count was 14 in 1959; its best national rank was #2,261 in 1959.

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 Marv?

Marv had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1967, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1967: 1 in 679,000; 5 of 3,394,772 births
Among boys only: 1 in 349,000; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 1967: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 470,616 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Marv 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 1967 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 470,616 children born in 1967 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Marv. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Marvs were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Marv was born before 1959 — so the typical Marv is around 66 today.

Median birth year: 1959; About 66 years old
Biggest decade: 1950s; 42.1% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 96.4%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 117; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1950s — 42.1% of all recorded uses (59).

Is Marv 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 1959 (14)
Years since peak: 66; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Shifting; 23.5% average annual change
Best rank ever: #2,261; 1959

Spellings of Marv

Marv is not the most common spelling — Mark is, with 30.8% against Marv's <0.01%.

Mark30.8%1,362,176
Gary20.4%902,152
Carl11.4%504,827
Earl6.5%289,174
Marvin5.8%254,192
Max3.8%167,458
Mario3.4%151,310
Marc3.2%140,604

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 Marv is used

Across 1910–2025, Marv was most concentrated in Michigan — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 1,094,860 across all states with data.

00 per 100,000

State popularity map

Most concentrated

1Michigan1 in —

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. Marv has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Marv 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: #2,261; 1959
Peak year: 1959; 14 that year
First recorded: 1942
Last recorded: 1967
All-time count: 140
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Marv

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

Marz Mari Marx Marti Mar Marl Marik Parv Mariel Marq Marsel Markai Marsh Maro Marken Marte March Mare Marke Marlee Marce Mars Mareo Martae

Sibling names for Marv

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

Andra Tamela Robbin Jannette Joellen Gerri Debby Cathie

For a brother

Curtiss Russ Nicky Dwain Stan Lindsay Cliff Von

Explore around Marv

Top names of 1959, Marv's peak year The 1950s in full Other names that peaked in 1959 Boys' names starting with M