Jodell
A feminine name possibly derived from the French name Jodelle.
Name Census estimates that about 580 living Americans carry the first name Jodell. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jodell today is around 64 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jodell births was 1956 (42 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jodell. 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
580
~ 1 in 590,956 Americans
Peak year
1956
42 babies that year
Average age
64
years old
1984 SSA rank
#9,632
Tracked since 1930
Popularity
Jodell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jodell from the 1930s through to the 1980s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 301 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jodell 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 Jodell during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jodells live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin recorded the most babies named Jodell, while Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 61 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jodell
The name Jodell is a relatively modern name with no clear linguistic or cultural origin. It appears to be a combination of the name elements "Jo" and "dell," but its precise etymology is uncertain.
The earliest known use of the name Jodell dates back to the late 19th century, but it remained quite rare until the mid-20th century. One of the first recorded individuals with the name was Jodell Meeker, an American businessman and politician who lived from 1847 to 1925. He served as a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly from 1887 to 1889.
Another early bearer of the name was Jodell Richardson, an American baseball player who was born in 1893 and played in the Negro leagues during the 1920s. He was known for his exceptional fielding skills and played for teams such as the Kansas City Monarchs.
In the 1940s, Jodell Hauser, an American actress, gained some fame for her roles in several popular Western films. She was born in 1922 and appeared in movies like "The Outlaw" (1943) and "Drifting Along" (1946) before her untimely death in a car accident in 1947.
One of the most notable individuals with the name Jodell was Jodell Brumit, an American singer and songwriter who was born in 1943. She co-wrote several hit songs for country music artists in the 1970s and 1980s, including "I'm Not That Lonely Yet" for Reba McEntire and "You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma" for David Frizzell and Shelly West.
More recently, Jodell Revenson Eckhart, born in 1957, is an American author and spiritual teacher known for her books on personal growth and self-discovery, such as "Spiritual Laws of Life" and "The Awakened Woman."
While the name Jodell remains relatively uncommon, it has been used across various parts of the United States and has been borne by individuals from different backgrounds and professions throughout the 20th century.
People
Jodell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jodell 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
Jodell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jodell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 580 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jodell 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 590,956 US residents.
Is Jodell a common name?
We classify Jodell as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 813 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jodell most popular?
The single biggest year for Jodell was 1956, when 42 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jodell is about 64 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Jodell a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jodell 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.
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.