Marshall

Marshall has maintained a position on the American male naming charts since 1880 (the first year the U.S. government began tracking naming trends). During the 19th century, Marshall as a masculine given name may have been influenced by John Marshall, a long serving Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1801-1835). His court opinions played a large role in laying the foundation of Constitutional Law and raising the Court’s stature as an equal branch of government along with the executive and legislative bodies. At the turn of the 20th century, Marshall was a name enjoying respectable moderate use (on the Top 200 list of most favored boy names). As the decades progressed into the last century, Marshall slowly declined to lower levels of moderate popularity. Interestingly, another important Supreme Court Justice, Thurgood Marshall, also held this surname. Appointed in 1965 by LBJ, Thurgood Marshall holds the distinction as the first African-American to serve on the nation’s highest court. We were surprised to see that the hugely successful rap artist Marshall Mathers (aka Eminem) did little to bolster the popularity of his name at the turn of the 21st century. Marshall Eriksen is also a central character in the popular sitcom “How I Met Your Mother”. The easy-going, ever-optimistic Marshall is played by the loveable Jason Segel. Marshall reminds us of Kendall, Randall, Maxwell and even Mitchell. It’s a cool name. Marshall is an esteemed surname turned first name. It feels gentlemanly old-fashioned yet strongly masculine and modern all at the same time.