Lamuel
Biblical name meaning "belonging to God" or "devoted to God".
Name Census estimates that about 0 living Americans carry the first name Lamuel. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Lamuel today is around 0 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lamuel births was 1930 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lamuel. 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 Lamuel. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
0
~ - Americans
Peak year
1930
6 babies that year
Average age
-
1930 SSA rank
#3,818
Tracked since 1930
Census
Lamuel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 108 people with the first name Lamuel, which placed it at #52,273 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
#52,273
National first-name rank
People counted
108
108 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
35.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lamuel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lamuel is Black at 35.2%. The next largest groups are White (25.0%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (18.5%). 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 Lamuel 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 Lamuel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American35.2% · 38
- White25.0% · 27
- American Indian and Alaska Native18.5% · 20
- Asian and Pacific Islander12.0% · 13
- Hispanic or Latino8.3% · 9
- Two or more races0.9% · 1
Popularity
Lamuel: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Lamuel 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 Lamuel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1930s | 6 | 0 | 6 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Lamuel
The name Lamuel has its origins in the Hebrew language and is derived from the Hebrew words "lam" meaning "for them" and "El" which means "God." This combination suggests a meaning of "belonging to God" or "dedicated to God." The name first appeared in the Old Testament of the Bible, specifically in the Book of Proverbs, where it is mentioned as the name of an unknown wise man.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Lamuel can be found in the writings of the 4th-century Christian scholar, Jerome. In his Latin translation of the Bible, known as the Vulgate, he rendered the Hebrew name as "Lamuel." This translation played a significant role in popularizing the name among early Christian communities.
In the 12th century, the name Lamuel appeared in the works of the Jewish philosopher and Torah scholar, Rashi. In his commentary on the Book of Proverbs, he interpreted the name as a reference to King Solomon, suggesting that it was one of Solomon's symbolic names.
During the Renaissance period, the name Lamuel gained some prominence among Christian scholars and theologians. One notable figure was Lamuel Gedicke, a German theologian and Hebrew scholar who lived from 1683 to 1738. He is known for his contributions to the study of the Old Testament and his work on Hebrew grammar.
In the 19th century, the name Lamuel was used by the American writer and abolitionist, Lamuel Gulliver Jenkins (1808-1868). Jenkins was a prominent figure in the anti-slavery movement and played a significant role in the Underground Railroad, helping enslaved people escape to freedom.
Another notable figure with the name Lamuel was Lamuel Pitkin (1787-1859), an American lawyer and politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Connecticut in the early 19th century.
While the name Lamuel has never been extremely common, it has retained a presence throughout history, primarily among Christian communities with an interest in the Hebrew language and Biblical studies.
People
Lamuel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lamuel 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
Lamuel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lamuel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 0 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lamuel 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 - US residents.
Is Lamuel a common name?
We classify Lamuel as "Very Rare". It ranks above 2.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lamuel most popular?
The single biggest year for Lamuel was 1930, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lamuel is about 0 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lamuel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 108 people with the name Lamuel, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #52,273 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 Lamuel 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 Lamuel?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lamuel leans strongly male. 109 people counted with this name were male (98.2%), compared with 2 female bearers (1.8%). 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 Lamuel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lamuel is Black at 35.2%. The next largest groups are White (25.0%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (18.5%). 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 Lamuel most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Lamuel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 35.2% (38 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 Lamuel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lamuel a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lamuel 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 Lamuel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lamuel 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 Lamuel 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 Lamuel?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.