Ercel
Of unknown origin and meaning, possibly a diminutive form.
Name Census estimates that about 24 living Americans carry the first name Ercel. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 54.4% of registrations being female. The average person named Ercel today is around 89 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ercel births was 1927 (25 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ercel. 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 Ercel is about 89 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Ercels were born before 1947.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Ercel. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
24
~ 1 in 14,281,431 Americans
Peak year
1927
25 babies that year
Average age
89
years old
1954 SSA rank
#3,561
Tracked since 1906
Census
Ercel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 118 people with the first name Ercel, which placed it at #50,661 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
#50,661
National first-name rank
People counted
118
118 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
72.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ercel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ercel is White at 72.9%. The next largest groups are Black (15.3%) and Hispanic (4.2%). 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 Ercel 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 Ercel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White72.9% · 86
- Black or African American15.3% · 18
- Hispanic or Latino4.2% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.2% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 2
- Two or more races1.7% · 2
Gender
Gender distribution for Ercel
Ercel is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 342 total registrations, 156 (45.6%) were male and 186 (54.4%) were female.
Ercel as a male name
- Ranked #3,561 in 1954
- 6 male births in 1954
- Peak: 1927 (13 births)
Ercel as a female name
- Ranked #4,615 in 1941
- 5 female births in 1941
- Peak: 1920 (16 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Ercel on both sides of the split. Of the 120 people counted with this name, 75 were male (62.5%) and 45 were female (37.5%).
Popularity
Ercel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ercel from the 1900s through to the 1950s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 133 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
Ercel 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 Ercel 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 Ercel
The given name Ercel is believed to have originated from the Old German language, with its roots tracing back to the 5th century AD. The name is derived from the Germanic word "erke," which means "genuine" or "true," and the suffix "-el," which denotes endearment or diminutive form.
In the early Middle Ages, the name Ercel was particularly prevalent among the Germanic tribes that inhabited the regions of modern-day Germany, Austria, and parts of Switzerland. It gained popularity during the Carolingian Renaissance, a period of cultural and intellectual revival in Europe from the late 8th to the 9th centuries.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Ercel can be found in the Codex Sangallensis, a 9th-century manuscript containing various texts, including legal documents and charters from the Carolingian period. This manuscript references an individual named Ercel, who held a position of authority within the ecclesiastical hierarchy of the time.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Ercel continued to be used, primarily within the Germanic-speaking regions of Europe. Notable individuals bearing this name include Ercel of Reichenau, a Benedictine monk and scholar who lived in the late 10th century and made significant contributions to the fields of theology and music.
During the Renaissance period, the name Ercel gained some prominence in certain parts of Europe. One notable figure was Ercel Brunschwyk, a German physician and botanist who lived in the late 15th century and authored several influential works on medicinal plants and herbal remedies.
In the 17th century, Ercel van der Burch, a Dutch Golden Age painter, gained recognition for his landscapes and portraiture. His works are now housed in various museums across Europe, including the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
Another noteworthy individual bearing the name Ercel was Ercel von Gemmingen, a German nobleman and military leader who served in the Thirty Years' War during the first half of the 17th century. He played a significant role in various battles and military campaigns during this prolonged conflict.
While the name Ercel has retained some usage over the centuries, particularly in certain regions of Germany and Austria, it has become increasingly rare in modern times. However, its historical legacy and linguistic roots remain an intriguing part of the cultural heritage of the Germanic-speaking world.
People
Ercel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ercel as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with E
Other first names starting with E with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ercel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ercel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 24 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ercel 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 14,281,431 US residents.
Is Ercel a common name?
We classify Ercel as "Very Rare". It ranks above 43% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 342 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ercel most popular?
The single biggest year for Ercel was 1927, when 25 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ercel is about 89 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ercel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 118 people with the name Ercel, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #50,661 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 Ercel 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 Ercel?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Ercel on both sides of the split. Of the 120 people counted with this name, 75 were male (62.5%) and 45 were female (37.5%). 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 Ercel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ercel is White at 72.9%. The next largest groups are Black (15.3%) and Hispanic (4.2%). 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 Ercel most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ercel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.9% (86 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 Ercel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ercel a female name?
Yes, 54.4% of people registered as Ercel 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 Ercel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ercel 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 Ercel 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 are called Ercel?
You can see how many people have the name Ercel on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.