Joell
A masculine French name meaning "God is willing".
Name Census estimates that about 2,046 living Americans carry the first name Joell. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 53.5% of registrations being male. The average person named Joell today is around 33 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Joell births was 1966 (120 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Joell. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Joell with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Joell was once a predominantly female name but has become increasingly popular for boys in recent decades.
- • Joell sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
People living today
2.0K
~ 1 in 167,524 Americans
Peak year
1966
120 babies that year
Average age
33
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,950
Tracked since 1939
Census
Joell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,832 people with the first name Joell, which placed it at #8,037 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
#8,037
National first-name rank
People counted
1.8K
1,832 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
44.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Joell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Joell is White at 44.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (27.3%) and Black (23.2%). 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 Joell 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 Joell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White44.1% · 808
- Hispanic or Latino27.3% · 501
- Black or African American23.2% · 425
- Two or more races3.4% · 63
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 24
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 11
Gender
Gender distribution for Joell
Joell is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 2,214 total registrations, 1,185 (53.5%) were male and 1,029 (46.5%) were female.
Joell as a male name
- Ranked #4,950 in 2024
- 20 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2011 (77 births)
Joell as a female name
- Ranked #18,079 in 2012
- 5 female births in 2012
- Peak: 1966 (120 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Joell on both sides of the split. Of the 1,832 people counted with this name, 917 were male (50.1%) and 915 were female (49.9%).
Popularity
Joell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Joell from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 524 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Joell 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 Joell during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Joells live
The SSA's state-level files cover 18 states and territories. California, New York, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Joell, while Texas, Oregon, Maryland recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 31 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Joell
The name Joell is believed to have originated from the Hebrew language and culture, with roots tracing back to ancient times. It is a variant spelling of the biblical name Joel, which is derived from the Hebrew word "Yovel," meaning "Yahweh is God."
In the Old Testament, the Book of Joel is attributed to the prophet Joel, whose name carries the meaning "Yahweh is God." This association with the Hebrew prophet suggests that the name Joell has religious and spiritual connotations within the Judeo-Christian tradition.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Joell can be found in historical records from the Middle Ages. Joell de Mayence, a French rabbi and scholar, lived during the 13th century and was renowned for his contributions to Jewish law and philosophy.
Another notable figure bearing the name Joell was Joell Blanck, a 17th-century German composer and organist. He was born in 1650 and is remembered for his compositions for the organ and his work as a church musician in various German cities.
In the 19th century, Joell Joseph Ganthony (1789-1866) was a French architect and urban planner. He is best known for his work on the restoration and renovation of historic buildings in Paris, including the Louvre and the Palais de Justice.
Joell Robuchon (1945-2018) was a renowned French chef and restaurateur, widely regarded as one of the most influential chefs of the 20th century. He was awarded numerous Michelin stars throughout his career and was known for his innovative approach to traditional French cuisine.
Joell Frédéric Perrault (1768-1844) was a French playwright and librettist who wrote several operas and plays during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His works were performed in Paris and other major European cities, contributing to the cultural landscape of his time.
Despite its relatively uncommon usage, the name Joell has a rich history and cultural significance, with roots tracing back to ancient Hebrew traditions and a presence throughout various periods in history, spanning religious, artistic, and literary domains.
People
Joell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Joell 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
Joell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Joell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,046 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Joell 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 167,524 US residents.
Is Joell a common name?
We classify Joell as "Rare". It ranks above 93.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,214 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Joell most popular?
The single biggest year for Joell was 1966, when 120 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Joell is about 33 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Joell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,832 people with the name Joell, or 0.61 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,037 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 Joell 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 Joell?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Joell on both sides of the split. Of the 1,832 people counted with this name, 917 were male (50.1%) and 915 were female (49.9%). 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 Joell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Joell is White at 44.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (27.3%) and Black (23.2%). 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 Joell most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Joell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 44.1% (808 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 Joell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Joell a male name?
Yes, 53.5% of people registered as Joell 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 Joell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Joell 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 Joell 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 Joell?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.