Ferrel
A diminutive form of the name Ferdinand, of Germanic origin, meaning "brave traveler".
Name Census estimates that about 88 living Americans carry the first name Ferrel. It is a predominantly male name (94.5% of registrations). The average person named Ferrel today is around 82 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ferrel births was 1923 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ferrel. 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 Ferrel is about 82 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Ferrels were born before 1954.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Ferrel. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
88
~ 1 in 3,894,936 Americans
Peak year
1923
19 babies that year
Average age
82
years old
1957 SSA rank
#4,175
Tracked since 1913
Census
Ferrel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 239 people with the first name Ferrel, which placed it at #34,236 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
#34,236
National first-name rank
People counted
239
239 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
60.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ferrel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ferrel is White at 60.3%. The next largest groups are Black (20.1%) and Hispanic (15.9%). 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 Ferrel 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 Ferrel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White60.3% · 144
- Black or African American20.1% · 48
- Hispanic or Latino15.9% · 38
- Two or more races2.9% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 2
Gender
Gender distribution for Ferrel
Ferrel leans heavily male at 94.5% of total registrations, but 22 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Ferrel as a male name
- Ranked #4,175 in 1957
- 5 male births in 1957
- Peak: 1923 (19 births)
Ferrel as a female name
- Ranked #4,439 in 1935
- 5 female births in 1935
- Peak: 1920 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ferrel leans strongly male. 203 people counted with this name were male (86.4%), compared with 32 female bearers (13.6%).
Popularity
Ferrel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ferrel from the 1910s through to the 1950s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1930s, with 122 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1930s peak, Ferrel remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ferrel 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 Ferrel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ferrels live
Origin
Meaning and history of Ferrel
The name Ferrel has its origins in the Old French language, derived from the word "ferrel," which means "iron ring" or "small iron band." This name likely originated during the Middle Ages in France, sometime between the 5th and 15th centuries.
Ferrel was likely an occupational surname initially, referring to someone who worked with iron rings or bands, such as a blacksmith or a metalworker. Over time, the surname transformed into a given name, although its usage as a first name has been relatively rare throughout history.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ferrel can be found in the 13th century, when a man named Ferrel de Montpellier was mentioned in a document from the city of Montpellier, France, in 1287. However, the name's association with specific historical figures or events remains scarce.
In the 16th century, a French explorer named Jacques Cartier is said to have encountered a Native American chief named Ferrel during his voyages to what is now Canada. This encounter is documented in Cartier's travel journals, providing one of the few historical references to the name during that time period.
Moving forward to the 19th century, a notable individual named Ferrel was William Ferrel, an American meteorologist born in 1817. He made significant contributions to the understanding of atmospheric dynamics and is credited with developing the Ferrel Cell model, which describes the circulation patterns in the mid-latitudes of the Earth's atmosphere.
Another individual named Ferrel from the same era was Ferrel Edmunds, an American politician who served as a United States Representative from Virginia from 1873 to 1875. He was born in 1824 and played a role in the Reconstruction era following the American Civil War.
In more recent times, one notable person with the name Ferrel was Ferrel Guillory, an American journalist and author who was born in 1940. He was known for his work on Southern politics and race relations, serving as the director of the Carolinas Program at the University of North Carolina.
While the name Ferrel has been used throughout history, it has remained relatively uncommon as a given name. Its origins can be traced back to the Old French language and its association with metalworking occupations, but its usage has been sporadic, with only a few notable individuals bearing this name over the centuries.
People
Ferrel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ferrel as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with F
Other first names starting with F with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ferrel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ferrel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 88 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ferrel 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 Ferrel a common name?
We classify Ferrel 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, 399 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ferrel most popular?
The single biggest year for Ferrel was 1923, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ferrel 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 Ferrel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 239 people with the name Ferrel, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #34,236 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 Ferrel 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 Ferrel?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ferrel leans strongly male. 203 people counted with this name were male (86.4%), compared with 32 female bearers (13.6%). 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 Ferrel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ferrel is White at 60.3%. The next largest groups are Black (20.1%) and Hispanic (15.9%). 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 Ferrel most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ferrel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.3% (144 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 Ferrel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ferrel a male name?
Yes, 94.5% of people registered as Ferrel 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 Ferrel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ferrel 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 Ferrel 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 Ferrel?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.