Juel
A feminine name derived from the French word "jouel" meaning "jewel".
Name Census estimates that about 996 living Americans carry the first name Juel. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 61.7% of registrations being male. The average person named Juel today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Juel births was 2015 (49 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Juel. 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 Juel with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Juel sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
People living today
996
~ 1 in 344,131 Americans
Peak year
2015
49 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,831
Tracked since 1893
Census
Juel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,087 people with the first name Juel, which placed it at #11,680 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
#11,680
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,087 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
38.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Juel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Juel is Black at 38.3%. The next largest groups are White (30.8%) and Hispanic (19.8%). 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 Juel 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 Juel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American38.3% · 416
- White30.8% · 335
- Hispanic or Latino19.8% · 215
- Two or more races4.8% · 52
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.7% · 51
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 18
Gender
Gender distribution for Juel
Juel is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 1,705 total registrations, 1,052 (61.7%) were male and 653 (38.3%) were female.
Juel as a male name
- Ranked #3,831 in 2024
- 29 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2006 (40 births)
Juel as a female name
- Ranked #12,747 in 2020
- 7 female births in 2020
- Peak: 1924 (19 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Juel on both sides of the split. Of the 1,088 people counted with this name, 660 were male (60.7%) and 428 were female (39.3%).
Popularity
Juel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Juel from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 367 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Juel remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Juel 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 Juel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Juels live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, Florida recorded the most babies named Juel, while Missouri, Minnesota, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 11 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Juel
The name Juel is believed to have originated from the Old Norse language, which was spoken by the Germanic peoples of Scandinavia during the Viking Age. It is thought to be derived from the Old Norse word "jól," which means "Christmas" or "Yuletide." This connection suggests that the name may have been initially used to refer to a child born around the time of the winter solstice or Christmas celebrations.
In its earliest recorded instances, the name Juel was primarily found in Denmark and other parts of Scandinavia. It was occasionally spelled as "Jøl" or "Juel," with the latter spelling eventually becoming more prevalent. The name's association with the Yuletide festivities and the winter season likely contributed to its enduring popularity in these regions.
One of the earliest known historical figures to bear the name Juel was Juel Vind (c. 1400-1480), a Danish nobleman and military commander who served under King Christian I of Denmark. Juel Vind was a prominent figure during the Kalmar Union period, when Denmark, Norway, and Sweden were united under a single monarch.
Another notable bearer of the name was Juel Sobieski (1667-1737), a Polish noble and military leader who fought against the Ottoman Empire during the Great Turkish War. Sobieski was a member of the renowned Sobieski family and played a crucial role in the defense of Europe against Ottoman expansion.
In the realm of literature, Juel Købke (1810-1848) was a Danish painter and poet who is considered one of the most important figures of the Golden Age of Danish painting. His works, which included landscapes, portraits, and scenes of everyday life, captured the essence of the Danish countryside and its people.
The name Juel also found its way into religious circles, as evidenced by Juel Frederiksværn (1853-1935), a Norwegian theologian and bishop who served as the Bishop of Kristiansand from 1908 to 1933. Frederiksværn was a prominent figure in the Church of Norway and played a significant role in shaping the religious landscape of the country during his lifetime.
In more recent times, Juel Anselmo (1934-2020) was a Danish actor and musician who gained fame for his roles in several Danish films and television shows. Anselmo was also known for his work as a singer and guitarist, contributing to the vibrant cultural scene of Denmark in the latter half of the 20th century.
While the name Juel may have roots in the Old Norse language and a connection to the winter solstice celebrations, it has transcended its origins and found a place in various cultures and historical contexts. From military leaders and nobles to artists, theologians, and entertainers, the name Juel has been carried by individuals who have left their mark on the world in different ways.
People
Juel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Juel 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
Juel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Juel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 996 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Juel 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 344,131 US residents.
Is Juel a common name?
We classify Juel as "Very Rare". It ranks above 90.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,705 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Juel most popular?
The single biggest year for Juel was 2015, when 49 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Juel is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Juel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,087 people with the name Juel, or 0.36 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,680 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 Juel 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 Juel?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Juel on both sides of the split. Of the 1,088 people counted with this name, 660 were male (60.7%) and 428 were female (39.3%). 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 Juel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Juel is Black at 38.3%. The next largest groups are White (30.8%) and Hispanic (19.8%). 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 Juel most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Juel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 38.3% (416 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 Juel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Juel a male name?
Yes, 61.7% of people registered as Juel 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 Juel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Juel 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 Juel 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 Juel?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.