Lenell
A name of uncertain origin, potentially a blend of Lena and Nell.
Name Census estimates that about 623 living Americans carry the first name Lenell. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 61.2% of registrations being male. The average person named Lenell today is around 56 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lenell births was 1954 (26 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lenell. 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
623
~ 1 in 550,167 Americans
Peak year
1954
26 babies that year
Average age
56
years old
2015 SSA rank
#9,352
Tracked since 1917
Census
Lenell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 616 people with the first name Lenell, which placed it at #17,727 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
#17,727
National first-name rank
People counted
616
616 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
73.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lenell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lenell is Black at 73.4%. The next largest groups are White (18.7%) and Hispanic (2.8%). 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 Lenell 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 Lenell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American73.4% · 452
- White18.7% · 115
- Hispanic or Latino2.8% · 17
- Two or more races2.4% · 15
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 8
Gender
Gender distribution for Lenell
Lenell is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 883 total registrations, 540 (61.2%) were male and 343 (38.8%) were female.
Lenell as a male name
- Ranked #11,543 in 2015
- 6 male births in 2015
- Peak: 1970 (17 births)
Lenell as a female name
- Ranked #9,352 in 1987
- 7 female births in 1987
- Peak: 1953 (14 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Lenell on both sides of the split. Of the 622 people counted with this name, 355 were male (57.1%) and 267 were female (42.9%).
Popularity
Lenell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lenell from the 1910s through to the 2010s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 177 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
Decades
Lenell 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 Lenell during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lenells live
Origin
Meaning and history of Lenell
The name Lenell has its origins in the Scandinavian languages, specifically Old Norse. It is believed to have derived from the combination of two words: "lena" meaning "calm" or "mild," and "ell" meaning "strength" or "power." The earliest recorded use of this name dates back to the 10th century in various Norse sagas and historical records.
During the Viking Age, the name Lenell was primarily used by Norse settlers in regions such as modern-day Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and parts of the British Isles. As the Vikings explored and established settlements across Europe, the name gradually spread to other parts of the continent.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Lenell was a Norse chieftain from the 11th century, recorded in the Icelandic sagas as Lenell the Fearless. He was renowned for his bravery and leadership during the Norse expeditions to Greenland and Vinland (parts of modern-day Canada).
In the 13th century, a notable figure named Lenell Thorvaldsson was a respected seafarer and explorer from Norway. He is credited with leading voyages to the Faroe Islands and contributing to the mapping of the North Atlantic region.
During the Middle Ages, the name Lenell was also found in certain religious texts and records within Scandinavian monasteries and churches. One such individual was Lenell Odinson, a monk from Denmark who lived in the 14th century and was known for his calligraphic skills in transcribing sacred texts.
As the name spread across Europe, various variants and spellings emerged, such as Lenelle, Lennel, and Lennel. In the 16th century, a prominent artist from the Netherlands named Lenell van Haarlem gained recognition for his intricate woodcarvings and sculptures that adorned churches and cathedrals.
Another notable figure was Lenell Eriksson, a Swedish military commander who lived in the 17th century. He played a significant role in the Swedish campaigns during the Thirty Years' War and was celebrated for his strategic prowess on the battlefield.
While the name Lenell has its roots in Scandinavia, it has been adopted and adapted in various cultures over the centuries, reflecting the diverse and rich history of this distinctive and powerful moniker.
People
Lenell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lenell 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
Lenell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lenell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 623 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lenell 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 550,167 US residents.
Is Lenell a common name?
We classify Lenell as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 883 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lenell most popular?
The single biggest year for Lenell was 1954, when 26 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lenell is about 56 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lenell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 616 people with the name Lenell, or 0.20 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,727 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 Lenell 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 Lenell?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Lenell on both sides of the split. Of the 622 people counted with this name, 355 were male (57.1%) and 267 were female (42.9%). 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 Lenell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lenell is Black at 73.4%. The next largest groups are White (18.7%) and Hispanic (2.8%). 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 Lenell most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Lenell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.4% (452 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 Lenell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lenell a male name?
Yes, 61.2% of people registered as Lenell 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 Lenell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lenell 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 Lenell 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 are named Lenell?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.