Ernell
A variant spelling of the masculine name Arnell of English origin.
Name Census estimates that about 20 living Americans carry the first name Ernell. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ernell today is around 75 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ernell births was 1937 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ernell. 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 Ernell is about 75 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Ernells were born before 1961.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Ernell. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
20
~ 1 in 17,137,717 Americans
Peak year
1937
6 babies that year
Average age
75
years old
1959 SSA rank
#6,538
Tracked since 1937
Census
Ernell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 160 people with the first name Ernell, which placed it at #43,806 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
#43,806
National first-name rank
People counted
160
160 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
73.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ernell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ernell is Black at 73.1%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (10.6%) and White (8.8%). 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 Ernell 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 Ernell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American73.1% · 117
- Asian and Pacific Islander10.6% · 17
- White8.8% · 14
- Hispanic or Latino3.1% · 5
- Two or more races2.5% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.9% · 3
Popularity
Ernell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ernell from the 1930s through to the 1950s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 16 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
Ernell 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 Ernell during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ernells live
Origin
Meaning and history of Ernell
The given name Ernell is a relatively modern and obscure name with uncertain origins. It appears to be a variation or combination of the more common names Ernest and Nell, though its precise etymology is unclear.
One possible theory traces the name's roots to the Old German name Arniwalda, meaning "ruler of the eagle." This ancient name eventually evolved into the more familiar forms Arnold and Ernest. The "ell" portion could be derived from the English name Nell, a diminutive of Eleanor or Helen, both meaning "bright" or "shining one."
However, there is little concrete historical evidence or documentation to support this supposed origin story. Ernell does not appear to have any direct ties to ancient texts, religious scriptures, or notable historical records.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Ernell date back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries. One of the earliest known individuals with this first name was Ernell Macon, an African American baseball player born in 1892, who played for several Negro League teams in the 1920s.
Another noteworthy figure was Ernell Ackerman, an American basketball player born in 1913, who competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, where he won a gold medal as part of the United States men's national basketball team.
In the arts, Ernell Harris was an American actor born in 1917, best known for his roles in various Western films and television shows in the 1950s and 1960s.
Moving into the mid-20th century, Ernell Brinker was an American professional baseball player born in 1923, who played as an outfielder for the Philadelphia Athletics in the 1940s.
More recently, Ernell Hunter was an American football player born in 1958, who played as a defensive back in the National Football League (NFL) for the San Francisco 49ers in the 1980s.
While not an exhaustive list, these individuals represent some of the most notable historical figures who have carried the given name Ernell over the past century or so.
People
Ernell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ernell 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
Ernell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ernell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 20 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ernell 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 17,137,717 US residents.
Is Ernell a common name?
We classify Ernell as "Very Rare". It ranks above 39.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 38 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ernell most popular?
The single biggest year for Ernell was 1937, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ernell is about 75 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ernell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 160 people with the name Ernell, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #43,806 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 Ernell 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 Ernell?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Ernell on both sides of the split. Of the 156 people counted with this name, 85 were male (54.5%) and 71 were female (45.5%). 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 Ernell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ernell is Black at 73.1%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (10.6%) and White (8.8%). 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 Ernell most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Ernell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.1% (117 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 Ernell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ernell a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ernell 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 Ernell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ernell 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 Ernell 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 common is the name Ernell?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.