Johnel
An Anglicized form of the Hebrew name "Yochanan" meaning "God is gracious".
Name Census estimates that about 231 living Americans carry the first name Johnel. It is a predominantly male name (98.0% of registrations). The average person named Johnel today is around 43 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Johnel births was 1990 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Johnel. 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
231
~ 1 in 1,483,785 Americans
Peak year
1990
10 babies that year
Average age
43
years old
2013 SSA rank
#8,860
Tracked since 1949
Census
Johnel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 362 people with the first name Johnel, which placed it at #25,958 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
#25,958
National first-name rank
People counted
362
362 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
64.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Johnel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Johnel is Black at 64.1%. The next largest groups are White (15.5%) and Hispanic (9.9%). 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 Johnel 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 Johnel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American64.1% · 232
- White15.5% · 56
- Hispanic or Latino9.9% · 36
- Two or more races5.8% · 21
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.6% · 13
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Johnel
Johnel leans heavily male at 98.0% of total registrations, but 5 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Johnel as a male name
- Ranked #13,030 in 2013
- 5 male births in 2013
- Peak: 1990 (10 births)
Johnel as a female name
- Ranked #8,860 in 1971
- 5 female births in 1971
- Peak: 1971 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Johnel on both sides of the split. Of the 366 people counted with this name, 276 were male (75.4%) and 90 were female (24.6%).
Popularity
Johnel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Johnel from the 1940s through to the 2010s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 58 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Johnel 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 Johnel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Johnel
The name Johnel is believed to have originated from the combination of the Hebrew names John and Nel. The name John is derived from the Hebrew name Yohanan, which means "Graced by God" or "God is gracious." Nel, on the other hand, is a variant of the Hebrew name Nell, which means "a ray of light" or "shining."
In the early Christian era, the name Johnel was likely used as a way to honor the apostle John, one of the twelve disciples of Jesus Christ. The Gospel of John, one of the four canonical gospels of the New Testament, is attributed to this apostle, making him a significant figure in early Christianity.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Johnel can be found in the writings of the 4th-century Christian scholar and theologian, Saint Jerome. In his commentary on the Book of Isaiah, he mentions a man named Johnel, who was a biblical scribe and translator.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Johnel. One of the most famous was Johnel of Saxony (c. 1300-1366), a German philosopher and theologian who taught at the University of Paris. He was known for his work on the philosophy of logic and his contributions to the development of scholasticism.
Another notable Johnel was Johnel de Courtenay (c. 1150-1219), a French nobleman and military leader who participated in the Third Crusade and the Albigensian Crusade. He was a prominent figure during the reign of King Philip II of France and played a significant role in the conflicts against the Cathars in southern France.
In the 16th century, Johnel Cambrensis (c. 1510-1580) was a Welsh historian and clergyman who wrote extensively about the history and geography of Wales. His works, such as the "Itinerarium Cambriae" and "Descriptio Cambriae," provided valuable insights into the culture and traditions of medieval Wales.
The name Johnel also appears in religious texts and chronicles from the Middle Ages. For instance, the "Chronica Majora" by the English historian Matthew Paris (c. 1200-1259) mentions a Johnel who was a monk and scholar at the Abbey of St. Albans in Hertfordshire, England.
Finally, Johnel van der Werve (c. 1620-1690) was a Dutch Golden Age painter known for his still-life paintings and portraits. His works, which often depicted opulent displays of fruits, flowers, and tableware, were highly sought after by wealthy patrons in the Netherlands and beyond.
People
Johnel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Johnel 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
Johnel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Johnel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 231 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Johnel 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 1,483,785 US residents.
Is Johnel a common name?
We classify Johnel as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 252 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Johnel most popular?
The single biggest year for Johnel was 1990, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Johnel is about 43 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Johnel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 362 people with the name Johnel, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #25,958 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 Johnel 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 Johnel?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Johnel on both sides of the split. Of the 366 people counted with this name, 276 were male (75.4%) and 90 were female (24.6%). 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 Johnel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Johnel is Black at 64.1%. The next largest groups are White (15.5%) and Hispanic (9.9%). 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 Johnel most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Johnel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.1% (232 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 Johnel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Johnel a male name?
Yes, 98.0% of people registered as Johnel 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 Johnel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Johnel 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 Johnel 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 named Johnel?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.