Cantrell
Of uncertain origin, potentially derived from the Welsh "cant" meaning "hundred".
Name Census estimates that about 459 living Americans carry the first name Cantrell. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 86.7% of registrations being male. The average person named Cantrell today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cantrell births was 1975 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cantrell. 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.
People living today
459
~ 1 in 746,741 Americans
Peak year
1975
18 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
2021 SSA rank
#12,449
Tracked since 1918
Gender
Gender distribution for Cantrell
Cantrell leans heavily male at 86.7% of total registrations, but 65 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Cantrell as a male name
- Ranked #12,449 in 2021
- 5 male births in 2021
- Peak: 1979 (18 births)
Cantrell as a female name
- Ranked #12,668 in 1989
- 5 female births in 1989
- Peak: 1975 (8 births)
Popularity
Cantrell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cantrell from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 108 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cantrell 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 Cantrell 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 Cantrell
The name Cantrell is believed to have originated from the Old English language, specifically from the region of England that is now known as Kent. It is thought to have derived from the words "cant," meaning corner or edge, and "rel," meaning a ridge or hill. Therefore, the name Cantrell is believed to have initially referred to someone who lived on a ridge or hill near a corner or edge of land.
While the exact origins of the name are not certain, it is believed to have first emerged during the Anglo-Saxon period, which lasted from the 5th to the 11th centuries in England. During this time, many place names and surnames emerged that were descriptive of the local geography or landscape.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Cantrell can be found in the Domesday Book, which was a comprehensive survey of landholdings in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name is mentioned in reference to a landowner or tenant in the region of Kent.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who have borne the name Cantrell. One of the earliest was Sir John Cantrell, who lived in the 14th century and was a prominent landowner and military commander during the Hundred Years' War between England and France.
In the 16th century, Thomas Cantrell was a notable English clergyman and scholar who served as the Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, and was involved in the translation of the King James Bible.
During the English Civil War in the 17th century, a Puritan soldier named Thomas Cantrell gained fame for his military exploits and was later appointed as a member of Oliver Cromwell's Protectorate government.
In the realm of literature, the name Cantrell is associated with the English poet and playwright John Cantrell, who lived in the late 17th century and wrote several popular plays and verse satires.
More recently, in the 20th century, the name Cantrell was borne by Robert Cantrell, an American mathematician and computer scientist who made significant contributions to the field of artificial intelligence and was a pioneer in the development of expert systems.
People
Cantrell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cantrell as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Cantrell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cantrell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 459 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cantrell 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 746,741 US residents.
Is Cantrell a common name?
We classify Cantrell as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 487 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cantrell most popular?
The single biggest year for Cantrell was 1975, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cantrell is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Cantrell a male name?
Yes, 86.7% of people registered as Cantrell 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.
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.