Lamel
A variant of the French masculine name Lamelle meaning "small plate."
Name Census estimates that about 326 living Americans carry the first name Lamel. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Lamel today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lamel births was 1990 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lamel. 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
326
~ 1 in 1,051,394 Americans
Peak year
1990
17 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,729
Tracked since 1973
Popularity
Lamel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lamel from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 93 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
Lamel 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 Lamel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lamels live
Origin
Meaning and history of Lamel
The name Lamel is believed to have its origins in the ancient Semitic languages of the Middle East, particularly in the Aramaic and Hebrew tongues spoken in the region around the 5th century BCE. It is thought to be derived from the Aramaic word "lamal," which means "to be complete" or "to be perfect."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Lamel can be found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, a collection of ancient Jewish religious texts dating back to the 3rd century BCE. In these scrolls, the name is mentioned as belonging to a scribe or scholar who was involved in the preservation and copying of sacred manuscripts.
During the early centuries of the Common Era, the name Lamel gained some prominence among certain Jewish communities in the Middle East. It is recorded that a rabbi named Lamel ben Shmuel lived in the city of Babylon (modern-day Iraq) in the 6th century CE and was renowned for his teachings and interpretations of the Torah.
In the 9th century CE, a famous Muslim scholar and mathematician from Persia (modern-day Iran) was known as Lamel al-Khwarizmi. He made significant contributions to the development of algebra and is credited with introducing the Arabic numeral system to the Western world.
During the Middle Ages, the name Lamel was also found among some Christian communities in Europe, particularly in areas with strong cultural and trade ties to the Middle East. One notable figure was Lamel of Bruges, a Flemish merchant and explorer who is believed to have traveled to the Far East in the 14th century and kept detailed accounts of his journeys.
In the 16th century, a Spanish nobleman and military commander named Lamel de Mendoza played a significant role in the Spanish conquest of the Americas, leading expeditions and establishing settlements in what is now Mexico and Central America.
While the name Lamel has not been as widely used in modern times, it continues to hold historical significance and ties to various cultures and traditions across the Middle East, Europe, and beyond.
People
Lamel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lamel as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with L
Other first names starting with L with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Lamel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lamel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 326 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lamel 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 1,051,394 US residents.
Is Lamel a common name?
We classify Lamel as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 336 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lamel most popular?
The single biggest year for Lamel was 1990, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lamel is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Lamel a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lamel 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.
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.