Averell
A diminutive form of the Old French name Averie, originally from Germanic roots meaning "counselor".
Name Census estimates that about 18 living Americans carry the first name Averell. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Averell today is around 55 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Averell births was 1957 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Averell. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Averell. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
18
~ 1 in 19,041,908 Americans
Peak year
1957
6 babies that year
Average age
55
years old
1998 SSA rank
#9,753
Tracked since 1956
Census
Averell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 111 people with the first name Averell, which placed it at #51,800 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
#51,800
National first-name rank
People counted
111
111 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
45.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Averell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Averell is Black at 45.0%. The next largest groups are White (36.9%) and Hispanic (6.3%). 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 Averell 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 Averell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American45.0% · 50
- White36.9% · 41
- Hispanic or Latino6.3% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.3% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.7% · 3
- Two or more races2.7% · 3
Popularity
Averell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Averell from the 1950s through to the 1990s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 11 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1950s peak, Averell remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Averell 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 Averell during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Averell
The given name Averell has its origins rooted in the ancient Norman French language, which was spoken in parts of modern-day France and England during the Middle Ages. It is believed to be a variation of the Old French name Averil, which itself derives from the Latin name Aprilis, meaning "the month of April."
In medieval times, it was not uncommon for children to be named after the month in which they were born. The name Averell, therefore, likely originated as a name given to boys born in the month of April. The earliest recorded instances of the name can be traced back to the 12th century in England, where it was used by Norman nobility and aristocracy.
One of the earliest known bearers of the name Averell was Averell de Avranches, a Norman nobleman who lived in the late 12th century. He was a vassal of King Richard I of England and accompanied him on the Third Crusade to the Holy Land. Another notable figure from this era was Averell de Montfort, a French knight who fought alongside King Philip II of France during the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathar heretics in southern France in the early 13th century.
As the centuries passed, the name Averell continued to be used, albeit sporadically, throughout various parts of Europe. One of the most famous historical figures to bear the name was Averell Harriman (1891-1986), an American diplomat and politician who served as Secretary of Commerce under President Harry S. Truman and later as Governor of New York. Harriman was also involved in the development of the Marshall Plan, which aimed to rebuild Western Europe after World War II.
Other notable individuals named Averell include Averell Dalton (1892-1968), an American artist and printmaker known for his depictions of everyday life in the American South, and Averell Stowell (1864-1949), a British artist and illustrator who worked in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Additionally, Averell Dougherty (1855-1928) was an American politician who served as the 35th Mayor of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from 1910 to 1912.
While the name Averell may not be as commonly used today as it once was, it remains a unique and historically significant name that carries with it a rich cultural heritage dating back to the Middle Ages.
People
Averell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Averell 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
Averell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Averell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 18 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Averell 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 19,041,908 US residents.
Is Averell a common name?
We classify Averell as "Very Rare". It ranks above 38.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 21 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Averell most popular?
The single biggest year for Averell was 1957, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Averell is about 55 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Averell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 111 people with the name Averell, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #51,800 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 Averell 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 Averell?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Averell leans strongly male. 93 people counted with this name were male (83.8%), compared with 18 female bearers (16.2%). 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 Averell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Averell is Black at 45.0%. The next largest groups are White (36.9%) and Hispanic (6.3%). 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 Averell most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Averell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 45.0% (50 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 Averell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Averell a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Averell in the SSA data are male. 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 Averell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Averell 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 Averell 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 Averell?
Want to know how many people share the name Averell? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.