Kornelius
A masculine name of Greek origin meaning "horned or horn-shaped".
Name Census estimates that about 50 living Americans carry the first name Kornelius. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Kornelius today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kornelius births was 2012 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kornelius. 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 Kornelius. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
50
~ 1 in 6,855,087 Americans
Peak year
2012
8 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2023 SSA rank
#13,304
Tracked since 1987
Popularity
Kornelius: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kornelius from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 23 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
Kornelius 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 Kornelius 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 Kornelius
The name Kornelius is derived from the Latin name Cornelius. It has its origins in the Roman family name Cornelii, which is thought to come from the Latin word cornu, meaning "horn." The Cornelii were an ancient patrician family at Rome, who claimed descent from the mythological figure Cornix.
In ancient Roman times, the name Cornelius was a common praenomen, which is the first name of a Roman citizen. It was a prestigious name associated with several influential figures in Roman history. One of the most famous bearers was Cornelius Sulla, a Roman dictator and general who lived from 138 BC to 78 BC. Another notable figure was the Roman philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca, also known as Seneca the Younger, who lived from 4 BC to 65 AD.
The name Kornelius gained popularity as a Christian name after the conversion of the Roman centurion Cornelius, recorded in the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament. He is regarded as the first Gentile convert to Christianity. This biblical reference contributed to the widespread use of the name among early Christians.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Kornelius comes from the 3rd century, with Pope Cornelius, who served as the Bishop of Rome from 251 to 253 AD. Another early bearer was Cornelius the Centurion, a Roman soldier mentioned in the Bible who was baptized by St. Peter and is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals with the name Kornelius. These include Kornelius Agrippa (1486-1535), a German Renaissance philosopher, theologian, and occult writer; Kornelius Jansenius (1585-1638), a Dutch Catholic bishop and the founder of Jansenism; and Kornelius Vermuyden (1595-1677), a Dutch engineer who was instrumental in draining the Fens in eastern England.
Other famous bearers include Kornelius Warmerdam (1915-2001), a Dutch athlete who set multiple world records in the pole vault; Kornelius Lievegoed (1900-1992), a Dutch educator and anthroposophist; and Kornelius Heiko Bakker (1942-2011), a Dutch-Canadian artist known for his large-scale public sculptures.
People
Kornelius + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kornelius as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Kornelius: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kornelius?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 50 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kornelius 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 6,855,087 US residents.
Is Kornelius a common name?
We classify Kornelius as "Very Rare". It ranks above 54.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 51 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kornelius most popular?
The single biggest year for Kornelius was 2012, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kornelius is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Kornelius in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kornelius a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kornelius 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 Kornelius still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kornelius 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 Kornelius 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people have the name Kornelius?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.