Carrel
A masculine French name derived from Carolus, meaning "manly" or "strong".
Name Census estimates that about 88 living Americans carry the first name Carrel. It is a predominantly male name (97.3% of registrations). The average person named Carrel today is around 82 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Carrel births was 1924 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Carrel. 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 Carrel is about 82 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Carrels were born before 1954.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Carrel. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
88
~ 1 in 3,894,936 Americans
Peak year
1924
16 babies that year
Average age
82
years old
1960 SSA rank
#3,715
Tracked since 1912
Census
Carrel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 244 people with the first name Carrel, which placed it at #33,765 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
#33,765
National first-name rank
People counted
244
244 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
70.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Carrel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Carrel is White at 70.5%. The next largest groups are Black (20.9%) and Two or More Races (4.1%). 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 Carrel 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 Carrel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White70.5% · 172
- Black or African American20.9% · 51
- Two or more races4.1% · 10
- Hispanic or Latino2.5% · 6
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 2
Gender
Gender distribution for Carrel
Carrel leans heavily male at 97.3% of total registrations, but 11 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Carrel as a male name
- Ranked #3,715 in 1960
- 6 male births in 1960
- Peak: 1924 (16 births)
Carrel as a female name
- Ranked #4,259 in 1943
- 6 female births in 1943
- Peak: 1943 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Carrel on both sides of the split. Of the 240 people counted with this name, 164 were male (68.3%) and 76 were female (31.7%).
Popularity
Carrel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Carrel from the 1910s through to the 1960s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 116 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
Carrel 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 Carrel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Carrels live
Origin
Meaning and history of Carrel
The given name Carrel has its origins in the French language, with the earliest recorded instances dating back to the 12th century. It is derived from the Old French word "carrel," which referred to a small enclosure or room, often found in monasteries or cloisters, where monks or scholars would study or write. This connection suggests that the name may have initially been associated with those who pursued academic or religious pursuits.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Carrel was a French monk named Carrel de Viry, who lived in the 12th century and served as the abbot of the Benedictine monastery of Saint-Pierre-le-Vif in Sens, France. His name is mentioned in several historical documents from that period, reflecting the monastic origins of the name.
In the 13th century, another notable figure bearing the name Carrel was a French philosopher and theologian named Carrel de Valenciennes. He was a prominent scholar at the University of Paris and wrote several treatises on various philosophical and theological topics.
During the Renaissance period, a French surgeon named Carrel de Gournay (1535-1609) gained recognition for his contributions to the field of medicine. He is credited with developing innovative techniques in the treatment of wounds and is considered one of the pioneers of modern surgery.
In more recent times, the French-American surgeon and biologist Alexis Carrel (1873-1944) achieved worldwide fame for his groundbreaking work in organ transplantation and vascular surgery. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1912 for his pioneering research on surgical techniques for suturing blood vessels and transplanting organs.
Another notable figure with the name Carrel was the French novelist and essayist Armand-Emmanuel Carrel (1893-1944), whose works explored themes of nationalism, traditionalism, and anti-Semitism. He was a controversial figure due to his involvement with fascist movements during the interwar period.
While the name Carrel has French origins, it has also been adopted and used in other cultures and languages over time, reflecting the cultural exchange and migration patterns throughout history.
People
Carrel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Carrel 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
Carrel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Carrel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 88 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Carrel 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 3,894,936 US residents.
Is Carrel a common name?
We classify Carrel as "Very Rare". It ranks above 62.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 406 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Carrel most popular?
The single biggest year for Carrel was 1924, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Carrel is about 82 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Carrel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 244 people with the name Carrel, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #33,765 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 Carrel 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 Carrel?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Carrel on both sides of the split. Of the 240 people counted with this name, 164 were male (68.3%) and 76 were female (31.7%). 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 Carrel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Carrel is White at 70.5%. The next largest groups are Black (20.9%) and Two or More Races (4.1%). 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 Carrel most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Carrel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.5% (172 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 Carrel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Carrel a male name?
Yes, 97.3% of people registered as Carrel 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 Carrel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Carrel 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 Carrel 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 Carrel?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Carrel at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.