Adell
Variation of the French name Adele, derived from the Germanic element "adal" meaning noble.
Name Census estimates that about 1,768 living Americans carry the first name Adell. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 85.5% of registrations being female. The average person named Adell today is around 64 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Adell births was 1920 (229 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Adell. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Adell with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.8K
~ 1 in 193,866 Americans
Peak year
1920
229 babies that year
Average age
64
years old
1998 SSA rank
#8,487
Tracked since 1881
Census
Adell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,903 people with the first name Adell, which placed it at #7,826 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#7,826
National first-name rank
People counted
1.9K
1,903 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
54.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Adell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Adell is Black at 54.4%. The next largest groups are White (35.7%) and Hispanic (4.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Adell described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Adell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American54.4% · 1,035
- White35.7% · 679
- Hispanic or Latino4.8% · 91
- Two or more races3.0% · 57
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 22
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 19
Gender
Gender distribution for Adell
Adell leans heavily female at 85.5% of total registrations, but 1,049 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Adell as a male name
- Ranked #8,487 in 1998
- 6 male births in 1998
- Peak: 1920 (34 births)
Adell as a female name
- Ranked #13,456 in 2024
- 6 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1921 (197 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Adell on both sides of the split. Of the 1,901 people counted with this name, 385 were male (20.3%) and 1,516 were female (79.7%).
Popularity
Adell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Adell from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 1,866 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Adell by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Adell during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Adells live
The SSA's state-level files cover 19 states and territories. Alabama, Texas, Georgia recorded the most babies named Adell, while Missouri, Ohio, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 179 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Adell
The name Adell is a variant of the Old English name Adela, which itself is derived from the Germanic root "adal," meaning "noble." It is believed to have originated in the Anglo-Saxon regions of England during the early medieval period, around the 7th or 8th century.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Adell can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of landowners in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name appears as a variant spelling of Adela, suggesting its use as a given name among the Anglo-Saxon nobility of the time.
In the 12th century, the name gained popularity across Europe due to its association with Saint Adela of Trier, a Frankish noblewoman who lived in the 8th century and was known for her piety and charitable works. She is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church, and her name became a popular choice for newborn girls.
One notable historical figure named Adell was Adell Vaughan (1913-1994), an American politician who served as the lieutenant governor of Missouri from 1965 to 1973. She was a trailblazer for women in politics and played a crucial role in promoting equal rights and opportunities for women in her state.
Another prominent figure was Adell Jergens (1917-2002), an American actress and model who appeared in numerous films and television shows throughout the mid-20th century. She was particularly known for her roles in Westerns and was often cast as a saloon girl or dancehall performer.
In the field of literature, Adell Cothorne (1892-1968) was a notable American poet and writer. Her works frequently explored themes of nature, spirituality, and the human condition. She published several collections of poetry, including "The Immortal Wind" and "Flame and Cloud."
Adell Harriman (1898-1986) was an American heiress and philanthropist who played a significant role in supporting various cultural and educational institutions. She was a patron of the arts and contributed to the establishment of several museums and galleries, including the Guggenheim Museum in New York City.
Finally, Adell Cruit (1920-2004) was an American athlete and coach who excelled in basketball. She played for the All-American Red Heads, a pioneering women's professional basketball team, and later became a successful coach, leading teams to numerous championships.
People
Adell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Adell as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Adell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Adell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,768 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Adell going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 193,866 US residents.
Is Adell a common name?
We classify Adell as "Rare". It ranks above 93.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 7,255 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Adell most popular?
The single biggest year for Adell was 1920, when 229 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Adell is about 64 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Adell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,903 people with the name Adell, or 0.63 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,826 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Adell in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Adell?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Adell on both sides of the split. Of the 1,901 people counted with this name, 385 were male (20.3%) and 1,516 were female (79.7%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Adell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Adell is Black at 54.4%. The next largest groups are White (35.7%) and Hispanic (4.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Adell most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Adell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 54.4% (1,035 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Adell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Adell a female name?
Yes, 85.5% of people registered as Adell in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Adell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Adell in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Adell can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are called Adell?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.