boy's name
Jean-Marie
zhahn-ma-REE
- Origin French
- Gender Boy
- Letters 10
- Popularity Uncommon
- Births on record 89,306
Jean-Marie is given to men in France despite the Marie — 97 percent of the births in our records are male, because French Catholic naming attached Marie to boys as a devotional marker rather than a feminine one.
- Jean-Marie is a name of French origin.
- Peaked in France in 1948, when 3,510 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade in France.
- Today about 1 in 117,911 babies in France is given this name.
- First appears in birth records in 1900.
Jean-Marie over time
Births per decade in France, 1900s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1900s | 1,655 |
| 1910s | 1,445 |
| 1920s | 2,440 |
| 1930s | 4,790 |
| 1940s | 19,060 |
| 1950s | 30,345 |
| 1960s | 16,785 |
| 1970s | 6,250 |
| 1980s | 2,975 |
| 1990s | 895 |
| 2000s | 230 |
| 2010s | 65 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 25 |
What Jean-Marie means
Jean-Marie means God is gracious, from Jean, joined to Marie, whose own meaning has never been established. The compound is devotional rather than descriptive. The sense passes into the modern name unchanged.
Where Jean-Marie comes from
Jean-Marie joins Jean, the French John from the Hebrew Yochanan, to Marie, from Miriam — a name whose derivation is genuinely unrecovered. Attaching Marie to a boy's name was a common French and Catholic practice, marking devotion to the Virgin rather than indicating sex; Jean-Marie, Charles-Marie and Rainer Maria Rilke all work this way. Jean-Marie Vianney, the Curé d'Ars, is patron of parish priests.
Jean-Marie in use
Jean-Marie peaked in France in 1948, when 3,510 babies were registered, and is falling in our data. It no longer ranks in any of the six markets we track, across 89,306 lifetime births. About 97 percent of recorded births are male, which is the clearest example in our data of Marie functioning as a devotional element rather than a feminine one.
How popular is Jean-Marie?
In 2025, Jean-Marie was given to 5 babies in France. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.
Where Jean-Marie is used
French counts are rounded to the nearest five and nothing below five is published, so these figures show the shape of the name's use rather than an exact tally. Data & sources.
How Jean-Marie is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Jeanmarie | Jeanmarie is Jean-Marie written as one word, used in the United States, where it ranks #10,635. | 2,320 |
Names that peaked alongside Jean-Marie
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Jean-Marie also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Jean-Marie over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
1 nickname for Jean-Marie
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Jean-Marie in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
- Dutch
- Jean-Paul
- French
- Jean-Paul Charles-Marie
Sibling names for Jean-Marie
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Jean-Marie — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Jean-Marie
What does the name Jean-Marie mean?
God is gracious, from Jean, joined to Marie — whose own meaning has never been established.
Is Jean-Marie a man's name?
Overwhelmingly. About 97 percent of the births in our records are male.
Why would a man be called Marie?
French Catholic naming attached it as a devotional marker to the Virgin, not as a feminine element.
Does Jean-Marie still rank?
Not in any of the six markets we track, despite a 1948 French peak of 3,510 births.
Is Jean-Marie a girl's or a boy's name?
Jean-Marie is given almost entirely to boys in birth records.
When was Jean-Marie most popular?
Jean-Marie peaked in 1948, when 3,510 babies were given the name. It has been falling over the past decade.
What are the nicknames for Jean-Marie?
Jean-Marie is usually shortened to Jm.
Is Jean-Marie a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Jean-Marie currently ranks #3,704 in France. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.