NameCensus.
Very Rare

Ledell

A masculine name of English origin possibly meaning "from the dale by the ledge".

Name Census estimates that about 343 living Americans carry the first name Ledell. It is a predominantly male name (96.3% of registrations). The average person named Ledell today is around 62 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ledell births was 1956 (20 babies).

This page is the full Name Census profile for Ledell. 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

343

~ 1 in 999,284 Americans

Peak year

1956

20 babies that year

Average age

62

years old

1996 SSA rank

#6,589

Tracked since 1919

Gender

Gender distribution for Ledell

Ledell leans heavily male at 96.3% of total registrations, but 21 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.

96% male
Male541 (96.3%)Female21 (3.7%)

Ledell as a male name

  • Ranked #6,867 in 1996
  • 8 male births in 1996
  • Peak: 1956 (20 births)

Ledell as a female name

  • Ranked #6,589 in 1958
  • 5 female births in 1958
  • Peak: 1929 (6 births)

Popularity

Ledell: popularity over time

The SSA tracks Ledell from the 1910s through to the 1990s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 126 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.

Babies born per year

MaleFemale
0510152019201930194019501960197019801990

Decades

Ledell 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 Ledell during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.

DecadeMaleFemaleTotal
1910s707
1920s401151
1930s94094
1940s78583
1950s1215126
1960s69069
1970s55055
1980s45045
1990s32032

Geography

Where Ledells live

The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas recorded the most babies named Ledell, while Texas, Mississippi, Arkansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 10 registrations each.

Origin

Meaning and history of Ledell

The given name Ledell has its origins in the English language. It is a variant spelling of the name Liddell, which emerged as a surname derived from the Anglo-Saxon word "lythel," meaning "little." The name's roots can be traced back to the Middle Ages in England.

Ledell's earliest recorded usage as a first name is relatively recent, with no known historical references or appearances in ancient texts or religious scriptures. The name's etymology suggests it was initially used as a surname, indicating a person of small stature or a little person.

While the name Ledell is not particularly common, there have been a few notable individuals throughout history who have borne this first name. One of the earliest recorded instances is Ledell Farrell, an American football player who played for the University of Southern California in the 1920s and later for the Los Angeles Buccaneers in the American Professional Football Association (now known as the National Football League).

Another individual of note is Ledell Lee, an American man who was convicted of murder and executed in Arkansas in 2017. His case garnered national attention due to concerns over the use of lethal injection drugs and the potential for innocence claims.

Ledell D. Zellers was an American artist and educator known for his landscape paintings and work as an art professor at the University of Oklahoma in the mid-20th century. He was born in 1917 and passed away in 1997.

In the field of music, Ledell Thomas was an American jazz drummer who performed with various big bands and orchestras in the 1940s and 1950s, including those of Count Basie and Duke Ellington.

Finally, Ledell Artis was an American actor who appeared in several films and television shows in the latter half of the 20th century, including roles in "The Dukes of Hazzard" and "In the Heat of the Night."

People

Ledell + last name combinations

How many people share a full name with Ledell 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

Ledell: questions and answers

How many people in the U.S. are named Ledell?

Name Census puts the figure at roughly 343 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ledell 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 999,284 US residents.

Is Ledell a common name?

We classify Ledell as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 562 babies have been registered with this name.

When was Ledell most popular?

The single biggest year for Ledell was 1956, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ledell is about 62 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.

Is Ledell a male name?

Yes, 96.3% of people registered as Ledell 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.

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