Marvel
Meaning of Marvel
Marvel, a unisex appellation that migrated into English from the Middle French merveille (“wonder, miracle”), functions less as a traditional forename than as a lexical adoption, inviting parents to confer a sense of awe upon the bearer; historically, American birth data demonstrate that the name enjoyed moderate popularity in the early‐to‐mid twentieth century—particularly among girls—before receding for several decades, only to resurface modestly in the 2010s as cinematic and comic-book franchises carrying the same word rekindled cultural familiarity. Within onomastic studies, Marvel is classified as a “virtue” or “word” name, akin to Hope or Valor, yet it is distinguished by its semantic breadth: denoting not merely moral aspiration but the very state of being wondrous. Phonetically rendered MAR-vuhl (/ˈmærvəl/), the name’s pleasing trochaic rhythm and final syllabic elision contribute to its fluid articulation across English dialects. Contemporary usage numbers remain low—fewer than fifty newborns per year in the United States—preserving an air of rarity that may appeal to seekers of distinctive, gender-flexible designations while still anchoring the child in a term deeply embedded in Anglo-American cultural imagination.
Pronunciation
American English
- Pronunced as MAR-vuhl (/ˈmærvl/)
U.S. Popularity Chart
