Annell
A feminine given name derived from Anne, meaning gracious or merciful.
Name Census estimates that about 252 living Americans carry the first name Annell. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Annell today is around 73 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Annell births was 1951 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Annell. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Annell is about 73 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Annells were born before 1963.
People living today
252
~ 1 in 1,360,136 Americans
Peak year
1951
27 babies that year
Average age
73
years old
1995 SSA rank
#8,117
Tracked since 1915
Census
Annell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 449 people with the first name Annell, which placed it at #22,241 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
#22,241
National first-name rank
People counted
449
449 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
58.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Annell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Annell is White at 58.6%. The next largest groups are Black (26.1%) and Hispanic (11.6%). 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 Annell 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 Annell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White58.6% · 263
- Black or African American26.1% · 117
- Hispanic or Latino11.6% · 52
- Two or more races2.7% · 12
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.2% · 1
Popularity
Annell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Annell from the 1910s through to the 1990s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 180 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1940s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Annell 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 Annell during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Annells live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Texas, Georgia, Alabama recorded the most babies named Annell, while Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 13 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Annell
The name Annell has its origins in the Scandinavian languages, particularly Old Norse. It is a diminutive form of the feminine name Anna, which itself is derived from the Hebrew name Hannah, meaning "grace" or "favor." The name Annell likely emerged in the medieval period, around the 11th or 12th century, as a variant of Anna that was popular among the Norse and Germanic cultures of Northern Europe.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Annell can be found in the Icelandic Sagas, a collection of literary works that document the lives and histories of the Norse people during the Viking Age. In the Saga of Gisli the Outlaw, written in the 13th century, there is a character named Annell who is described as a noblewoman from a prominent Icelandic family.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Annell remained in use, particularly in Scandinavia and the regions influenced by Norse culture, such as parts of Scotland and Northern England. During this period, several notable individuals bore the name Annell, including Annell of Lübeck, a 14th-century German nun and mystic known for her religious writings and visions.
In the 16th century, the name Annell gained some popularity in England and Scotland, likely due to the influence of the Scandinavian settlers in those regions. One notable bearer of the name from this era was Annell Douglas, a Scottish noblewoman who lived in the late 16th century and was a member of the influential Douglas family.
As the centuries passed, the name Annell continued to be used, albeit infrequently, in various parts of Europe. One notable figure from the 17th century was Annell van der Burch, a Dutch artist and engraver who specialized in portraiture and was active in the early 1600s.
In the 19th century, the name Annell gained some recognition in literature through the works of Swedish novelist and playwright August Strindberg. In his novel "The Red Room," published in 1879, one of the central characters is named Annell, which helped to revive interest in the name during that period.
People
Annell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Annell 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
Annell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Annell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 252 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Annell 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 1,360,136 US residents.
Is Annell a common name?
We classify Annell as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 653 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Annell most popular?
The single biggest year for Annell was 1951, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Annell is about 73 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Annell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 449 people with the name Annell, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #22,241 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 Annell 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 Annell?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Annell appears almost entirely female. Of the 446 people counted with this name, 99.1% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Annell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Annell is White at 58.6%. The next largest groups are Black (26.1%) and Hispanic (11.6%). 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 Annell most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Annell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 58.6% (263 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 Annell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Annell a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Annell 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 Annell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Annell 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 Annell 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 Americans are named Annell?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.