Jonnell
A combination of the names John and Nell, potentially meaning "God is gracious" and "bright".
Name Census estimates that about 63 living Americans carry the first name Jonnell. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 84.1% of registrations being female. The average person named Jonnell today is around 47 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jonnell births was 1965 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jonnell. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Jonnell. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
63
~ 1 in 5,440,545 Americans
Peak year
1965
8 babies that year
Average age
47
years old
1990 SSA rank
#7,594
Tracked since 1965
Census
Jonnell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 221 people with the first name Jonnell, which placed it at #36,071 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
#36,071
National first-name rank
People counted
221
221 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
51.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jonnell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jonnell is Black at 51.1%. The next largest groups are White (25.8%) and Two or More Races (8.6%). 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 Jonnell 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 Jonnell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American51.1% · 113
- White25.8% · 57
- Two or more races8.6% · 19
- Hispanic or Latino8.1% · 18
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.5% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Jonnell
Jonnell leans heavily female at 84.1% of total registrations, but 11 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Jonnell as a male name
- Ranked #7,594 in 1990
- 6 male births in 1990
- Peak: 1990 (6 births)
Jonnell as a female name
- Ranked #11,701 in 1986
- 5 female births in 1986
- Peak: 1965 (8 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Jonnell on both sides of the split. Of the 216 people counted with this name, 75 were male (34.7%) and 141 were female (65.3%).
Popularity
Jonnell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jonnell from the 1960s through to the 1990s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 30 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jonnell 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 Jonnell 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 Jonnell
The given name Jonnell is a relatively modern name with uncertain origins. It is believed to have emerged in the late 19th or early 20th century, possibly as a combination of the more common names John and Nell. Due to its recent origins, the name does not have a clear linguistic or cultural source.
Some scholars suggest that Jonnell may be a variant of the French name Jeanelle, which is a feminine form of the name Jean, derived from the Hebrew name Yohanan, meaning "Yahweh is gracious." However, this connection is tenuous and lacks concrete historical evidence.
Jonnell does not appear to have any significant historical references or appearances in ancient texts or religious scriptures. Its relatively modern emergence means that it is not found in historical records or literature until the 20th century.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jonnell was Jonnell Allen Grigsby (1904-1989), an American educator and civil rights activist from Kansas City, Missouri. She was a prominent figure in the NAACP and worked tirelessly for educational opportunities for African Americans.
Another notable individual with the name Jonnell was Jonnell Demetri Colbert (born 1989), an American football player who played as a wide receiver for various teams in the National Football League (NFL) from 2012 to 2016.
Jonnell Renee Taylor (born 1974) is an American attorney and politician who served as a member of the Florida House of Representatives from 2008 to 2016, representing parts of Hillsborough and Polk counties.
Jonnell Bobbie Kenan (1858-1931) was an American businesswoman and philanthropist from North Carolina. She was known for her philanthropic efforts in supporting education and social services in her home state.
Jonnell Amanda Mayren (born 1985) is a Swedish actress and model who has appeared in several Swedish television series and films since the early 2000s.
While the name Jonnell has gained some popularity in recent decades, particularly in the United States, it remains a relatively uncommon name with limited historical significance or cultural heritage.
People
Jonnell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jonnell 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
Jonnell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jonnell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 63 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jonnell 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 5,440,545 US residents.
Is Jonnell a common name?
We classify Jonnell as "Very Rare". It ranks above 57.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 69 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jonnell most popular?
The single biggest year for Jonnell was 1965, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jonnell is about 47 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jonnell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 221 people with the name Jonnell, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #36,071 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 Jonnell 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 Jonnell?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Jonnell on both sides of the split. Of the 216 people counted with this name, 75 were male (34.7%) and 141 were female (65.3%). 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 Jonnell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jonnell is Black at 51.1%. The next largest groups are White (25.8%) and Two or More Races (8.6%). 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 Jonnell most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Jonnell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 51.1% (113 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 Jonnell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jonnell a female name?
Yes, 84.1% of people registered as Jonnell 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.
Is Jonnell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jonnell 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 Jonnell 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 Jonnell as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.