Johnell
A masculine name with possible origins from English or African-American culture.
Name Census estimates that about 1,338 living Americans carry the first name Johnell. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 77.7% of registrations being male. The average person named Johnell today is around 46 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Johnell births was 1977 (37 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Johnell. 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
1.3K
~ 1 in 256,169 Americans
Peak year
1977
37 babies that year
Average age
46
years old
2020 SSA rank
#9,092
Tracked since 1925
Census
Johnell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,058 people with the first name Johnell, which placed it at #11,940 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
#11,940
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,058 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
73.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Johnell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Johnell is Black at 73.4%. The next largest groups are White (14.6%) and Hispanic (5.5%). 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 Johnell 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 Johnell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American73.4% · 777
- White14.6% · 154
- Hispanic or Latino5.5% · 58
- Two or more races4.0% · 42
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 15
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 12
Gender
Gender distribution for Johnell
Johnell is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 1,589 total registrations, 1,234 (77.7%) were male and 355 (22.3%) were female.
Johnell as a male name
- Ranked #9,092 in 2020
- 8 male births in 2020
- Peak: 1990 (27 births)
Johnell as a female name
- Ranked #14,983 in 2004
- 6 female births in 2004
- Peak: 1971 (12 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Johnell on both sides of the split. Of the 1,054 people counted with this name, 748 were male (71.0%) and 306 were female (29.0%).
Popularity
Johnell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Johnell from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 270 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Johnell 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 Johnell during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Johnells live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. Louisiana, Illinois, California recorded the most babies named Johnell, while Florida, South Carolina, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 32 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Johnell
The given name Johnell is believed to have originated as a variation of the more common name John, which has its roots in the Hebrew name Yohanan or Yochanan, meaning "Yahweh is gracious". The name John became widely popular across Europe after the birth of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ, as documented in the New Testament of the Bible.
The earliest recorded use of the name Johnell can be traced back to the late 19th century in parts of the Southern United States, particularly among African American communities. It is believed to have emerged as a unique spelling variation of John, potentially influenced by the similar-sounding French name Jeannelle.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Johnell was Johnell Franklin, an African American blues singer and guitarist who was active in the 1920s and 1930s in the Mississippi Delta region. He is credited with helping to shape the distinctive sound of the Delta blues genre.
Another notable bearer of the name was Johnell Hendrix (1904-1980), the mother of legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix. She played a significant role in nurturing his musical talents from a young age and supporting his career until her passing.
Johnell Bryant (1926-2003) was an American professional baseball player who played in the Negro Leagues for the Kansas City Monarchs and the Birmingham Black Barons during the 1940s and 1950s. He was later inducted into the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum's Hall of Fame.
In the realm of literature, Johnell Franklin is the pen name of an American author and poet who has published several collections of poetry and short stories since the 1990s, exploring themes of identity, race, and social justice.
Johnell DeWitt (born 1985) is a contemporary American film director and screenwriter known for her critically acclaimed independent films that shed light on the experiences of marginalized communities. Her debut feature film, "The Broken Ones," won several awards at international film festivals.
While the name Johnell remains relatively uncommon, its unique spelling and historical roots in African American culture have contributed to its enduring presence as a given name, often carrying a sense of individuality and cultural significance.
People
Johnell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Johnell 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
Johnell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Johnell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,338 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Johnell 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 256,169 US residents.
Is Johnell a common name?
We classify Johnell as "Rare". It ranks above 91.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,589 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Johnell most popular?
The single biggest year for Johnell was 1977, when 37 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Johnell is about 46 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Johnell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,058 people with the name Johnell, or 0.35 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,940 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 Johnell 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 Johnell?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Johnell on both sides of the split. Of the 1,054 people counted with this name, 748 were male (71.0%) and 306 were female (29.0%). 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 Johnell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Johnell is Black at 73.4%. The next largest groups are White (14.6%) and Hispanic (5.5%). 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 Johnell most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Johnell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.4% (777 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 Johnell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Johnell a male name?
Yes, 77.7% of people registered as Johnell 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 Johnell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Johnell 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 Johnell 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 have the name Johnell?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.