Corneilius
A masculine name of Latin origin meaning "horn" or "horn-blower."
Name Census estimates that about 46 living Americans carry the first name Corneilius. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Corneilius today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Corneilius births was 1987 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Corneilius. 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 Corneilius. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
46
~ 1 in 7,451,181 Americans
Peak year
1987
6 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
2010 SSA rank
#12,607
Tracked since 1977
Popularity
Corneilius: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Corneilius from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 22 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Corneilius 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 Corneilius 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 Corneilius
The name Corneilius has its origins in the ancient Roman culture, dating back to the 1st century BCE. It is derived from the Roman family name "Cornelius," which itself comes from the Latin word "cornix," meaning "crow." The name was thus likely first used to refer to someone with dark hair or a swarthy complexion, resembling the color of a crow's feathers.
In ancient Roman records and texts, the name Cornelius appears as a prominent family name, belonging to the esteemed Cornelii gens, one of the most influential patrician families in the Roman Republic and Empire. A notable early bearer of the name was Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus (236-183 BCE), a celebrated Roman general who defeated Hannibal in the Second Punic War.
Throughout the centuries, the name Corneilius (or its variations, such as Cornelius) has been borne by several notable historical figures. One of the earliest was Pope Cornelius, who served as the Bishop of Rome from 251 to 253 CE and was later canonized as a saint in the Catholic Church. Another famous bearer was Cornelius Agrippa (1486-1535), a German Renaissance philosopher, occult writer, and polymath.
In the 17th century, the Dutch artist Cornelius Janssens van Ceulen (1593-1661) was a prominent figure in the Baroque period, known for his portraits of English aristocracy. Later, Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794-1877) was an American business magnate who amassed a vast shipping and railroad fortune, establishing the Vanderbilt family as one of the wealthiest and most influential in the United States.
In the 20th century, Cornelius "Connie" Hawkins (1942-2017) was an American basketball player who spent several years in the American Basketball Association before joining the NBA's Phoenix Suns. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992.
While the name Corneilius has waned in popularity in recent times, its rich historical legacy and connections to ancient Roman culture and notable figures throughout history have made it a enduring name with deep roots and significance.
People
Corneilius + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Corneilius 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
Corneilius: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Corneilius?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 46 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Corneilius 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 7,451,181 US residents.
Is Corneilius a common name?
We classify Corneilius as "Very Rare". It ranks above 53.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 48 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Corneilius most popular?
The single biggest year for Corneilius was 1987, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Corneilius is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Corneilius in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Corneilius a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Corneilius 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 Corneilius still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Corneilius 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 Corneilius 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people share the name Corneilius?
Want to know how many Americans are named Corneilius? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.