Chapel
A given name of English origin referring to a small Christian house of prayer.
Name Census estimates that about 381 living Americans carry the first name Chapel. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 64.8% of registrations being female. The average person named Chapel today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Chapel births was 2023 (45 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Chapel. 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
381
~ 1 in 899,618 Americans
Peak year
2023
45 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,577
Tracked since 1996
Census
Chapel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 325 people with the first name Chapel, which placed it at #27,889 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
#27,889
National first-name rank
People counted
325
325 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
84.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Chapel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chapel is White at 84.9%. The next largest groups are Black (5.2%) and Hispanic (4.6%). 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 Chapel 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 Chapel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.9% · 276
- Black or African American5.2% · 17
- Hispanic or Latino4.6% · 15
- Two or more races3.1% · 10
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.2% · 7
Gender
Gender distribution for Chapel
Chapel is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 384 total registrations, 135 (35.2%) were male and 249 (64.8%) were female.
Chapel as a male name
- Ranked #4,577 in 2024
- 22 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (24 births)
Chapel as a female name
- Ranked #5,639 in 2024
- 22 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (22 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Chapel on both sides of the split. Of the 326 people counted with this name, 109 were male (33.4%) and 217 were female (66.6%).
Popularity
Chapel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Chapel from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 166 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Chapel 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 Chapel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Chapels live
Origin
Meaning and history of Chapel
The name Chapel has its origins in the Old English word "cirice", which referred to a place of worship or a church building. This word evolved into the Middle English "chirche" and eventually became "church" in Modern English. The name Chapel likely arose as a reference to someone who lived or worked near a chapel or a small church.
In the early medieval period, chapels were often attached to castles, manors, or other noble residences, serving as private places of worship for the lords and their families. It's possible that the name Chapel was initially given to individuals who held positions related to these small chapels, such as chaplains or caretakers.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Chapel can be traced back to the 13th century in England. One notable bearer of this name was John Chapel, who lived in Yorkshire, England, during the late 13th century and is mentioned in historical records from that time.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Chapel. One of the earliest was Sir Richard Chapel, a 14th-century English knight who fought in the Hundred Years' War and was present at the Battle of Crécy in 1346.
In the 16th century, Thomas Chapel (c. 1520-1590) was an English Protestant clergyman who served as a chaplain to Queen Elizabeth I and played a role in the religious reforms of the time.
During the 17th century, Robert Chapel (1639-1698) was an English mathematician and astronomer who made significant contributions to the study of logarithms and the calculation of eclipses.
Another notable figure was William Chapel (1702-1782), an English architect who designed several churches and public buildings in the Georgian style, including the chapel at Pembroke College, Oxford.
In the 19th century, Charles Edward Chapel (1838-1899) was a British artist known for his landscape paintings and works depicting rural life in England.
While the name Chapel is relatively uncommon today, it has a rich history spanning several centuries and various cultural and professional fields, reflecting its origins as a name associated with religious buildings and those who worked or lived near them.
People
Chapel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Chapel 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
Chapel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Chapel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 381 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Chapel 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 899,618 US residents.
Is Chapel a common name?
We classify Chapel as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 384 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Chapel most popular?
The single biggest year for Chapel was 2023, when 45 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Chapel is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Chapel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 325 people with the name Chapel, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #27,889 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 Chapel 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 Chapel?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Chapel on both sides of the split. Of the 326 people counted with this name, 109 were male (33.4%) and 217 were female (66.6%). 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 Chapel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chapel is White at 84.9%. The next largest groups are Black (5.2%) and Hispanic (4.6%). 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 Chapel most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Chapel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.9% (276 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 Chapel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Chapel a female name?
Yes, 64.8% of people registered as Chapel 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 Chapel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Chapel 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 Chapel 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 have the name Chapel?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Chapel on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.