Lavell
A masculine name of French origin meaning "from the valley".
Name Census estimates that about 2,563 living Americans carry the first name Lavell. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 90.0% of registrations being male. The average person named Lavell today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lavell births was 1985 (58 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lavell. 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 Lavell with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.6K
~ 1 in 133,732 Americans
Peak year
1985
58 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,046
Tracked since 1913
Census
Lavell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,878 people with the first name Lavell, which placed it at #7,888 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
#7,888
National first-name rank
People counted
1.9K
1,878 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
81.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lavell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lavell is Black at 81.2%. The next largest groups are White (9.3%) and Two or More Races (5.4%). 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 Lavell 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 Lavell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American81.2% · 1,525
- White9.3% · 175
- Two or more races5.4% · 102
- Hispanic or Latino3.0% · 57
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 13
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 6
Gender
Gender distribution for Lavell
Lavell leans heavily male at 90.0% of total registrations, but 327 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Lavell as a male name
- Ranked #8,046 in 2024
- 10 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1985 (58 births)
Lavell as a female name
- Ranked #11,940 in 1986
- 5 female births in 1986
- Peak: 1920 (15 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lavell leans strongly male. 1,697 people counted with this name were male (90.3%), compared with 182 female bearers (9.7%).
Popularity
Lavell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lavell from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 460 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
Lavell 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 Lavell during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lavells live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. Illinois, California, Michigan recorded the most babies named Lavell, while Utah, Texas, Arkansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 84 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lavell
The name Lavell is believed to have originated from the French language, with roots tracing back to the Old French word "la val," meaning "the valley." This name likely emerged during the Middle Ages, sometime between the 5th and 15th centuries, when the French language was developing and spreading throughout Europe.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Lavell can be found in the 13th-century work "The Romance of the Rose," a renowned medieval French poem. It is mentioned as a surname or place name, suggesting that the name was already in use during that era.
While the name Lavell does not appear to have any direct historical references in religious scriptures or ancient texts, its connection to the word "valley" may have been symbolic of fertility, abundance, or a sense of protection and shelter provided by the natural landscapes.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Lavell was Lavell Rowland, an English merchant and landowner who lived in the late 16th century. Records show that he owned significant property in Gloucestershire, England, and was a prominent figure in his local community.
Another notable individual with the name Lavell was Lavell Memminger, an American politician and banker who lived from 1803 to 1888. He served as the first Secretary of the Treasury for the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War.
In the 19th century, Lavell Coombs was a British artist and engraver who gained recognition for his landscape paintings and etchings. He was born in 1835 and is remembered for his depictions of rural scenes and countryside vistas.
Lavell Merritt, an American athlete and Olympic gold medalist in track and field, was born in 1986. He specializes in the 400-meter hurdles and has won numerous medals at major international competitions, including the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2012 London Olympics.
Lavell Crawford, born in 1968, is an American comedian and actor known for his stand-up comedy performances and appearances in television shows and films. He has toured extensively and has been featured on various comedy specials and talk shows.
People
Lavell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lavell 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
Lavell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lavell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,563 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lavell 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 133,732 US residents.
Is Lavell a common name?
We classify Lavell as "Rare". It ranks above 94.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,273 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lavell most popular?
The single biggest year for Lavell was 1985, when 58 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lavell is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lavell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,878 people with the name Lavell, or 0.62 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,888 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 Lavell 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 Lavell?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lavell leans strongly male. 1,697 people counted with this name were male (90.3%), compared with 182 female bearers (9.7%). 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 Lavell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lavell is Black at 81.2%. The next largest groups are White (9.3%) and Two or More Races (5.4%). 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 Lavell most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Lavell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.2% (1,525 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 Lavell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lavell a male name?
Yes, 90.0% of people registered as Lavell 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 Lavell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lavell 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 Lavell 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 common is the name Lavell?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.