Jerrel
A masculine name of Scottish origin meaning "a fair lad".
Name Census estimates that about 1,704 living Americans carry the first name Jerrel. It is a predominantly male name (98.9% of registrations). The average person named Jerrel today is around 49 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jerrel births was 1987 (58 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jerrel. 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
1.7K
~ 1 in 201,147 Americans
Peak year
1987
58 babies that year
Average age
49
years old
2022 SSA rank
#5,769
Tracked since 1915
Gender
Gender distribution for Jerrel
Jerrel leans heavily male at 98.9% of total registrations, but 26 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Jerrel as a male name
- Ranked #11,499 in 2022
- 6 male births in 2022
- Peak: 1987 (58 births)
Jerrel as a female name
- Ranked #5,769 in 1951
- 5 female births in 1951
- Peak: 1935 (6 births)
Popularity
Jerrel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jerrel from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 376 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1940s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jerrel 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 Jerrel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jerrels live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. Texas, Arkansas, New York recorded the most babies named Jerrel, while North Carolina, Mississippi, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 43 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jerrel
The given name Jerrel has its origins in the English language, first appearing in the late 19th century as a variant spelling of the more common name Jerrell. The name itself is believed to be a combination of the Middle English words "ger" meaning "spear" and "rel" derived from the Old French "raille" meaning "rail" or "bar."
Early records show the name Jerrel being used in various parts of the British Isles, including England, Scotland, and Ireland. One of the earliest documented instances of the name can be found in the 1881 British census, where a Jerrel Witherspoon is listed as residing in the county of Gloucestershire.
While the name does not appear to have any direct historical or religious references, there have been several notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Jerrel. One such figure was Jerrel Privert, a Haitian politician who served as the interim President of Haiti from 2016 to 2017.
Another notable Jerrel was Jerrel Wilson, an American football player who played as a defensive back for the Kansas City Chiefs in the National Football League (NFL) during the 1960s. He was born in 1938 and played for the Chiefs from 1963 to 1966.
In the field of literature, Jerrel Conner was an American author and poet who published several works in the late 20th century, including the poetry collection "Moments of Clarity" in 1994.
Jerrel Quebe was a professional American baseball player who played as an outfielder in the Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies in the 1930s and 1940s. He was born in 1911 and played in the MLB from 1935 to 1945.
Lastly, Jerrel Hancock was a British actor and playwright who gained recognition for his work in theater productions and television shows in the 1970s and 1980s. He was born in 1943 and had a successful career in the entertainment industry until his passing in 2007.
People
Jerrel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jerrel as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with J
Other first names starting with J with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Jerrel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jerrel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,704 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jerrel 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 201,147 US residents.
Is Jerrel a common name?
We classify Jerrel as "Rare". It ranks above 93% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,474 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jerrel most popular?
The single biggest year for Jerrel was 1987, when 58 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jerrel is about 49 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Jerrel a male name?
Yes, 98.9% of people registered as Jerrel 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.
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.