Lynell
A diminutive form of the name Linda, derived from the Spanish name Lindo meaning "pretty".
Name Census estimates that about 2,124 living Americans carry the first name Lynell. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 70.4% of registrations being female. The average person named Lynell today is around 55 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lynell births was 1971 (103 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lynell. 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
2.1K
~ 1 in 161,372 Americans
Peak year
1971
103 babies that year
Average age
55
years old
2023 SSA rank
#13,415
Tracked since 1914
Census
Lynell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,047 people with the first name Lynell, which placed it at #7,454 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
#7,454
National first-name rank
People counted
2.0K
2,047 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
45.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lynell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lynell is White at 45.0%. The next largest groups are Black (42.9%) and Two or More Races (4.7%). 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 Lynell 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 Lynell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White45.0% · 921
- Black or African American42.9% · 878
- Two or more races4.7% · 96
- Hispanic or Latino3.0% · 61
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.5% · 51
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 40
Gender
Gender distribution for Lynell
Lynell is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 2,784 total registrations, 823 (29.6%) were male and 1,961 (70.4%) were female.
Lynell as a male name
- Ranked #13,415 in 2023
- 5 male births in 2023
- Peak: 1985 (22 births)
Lynell as a female name
- Ranked #16,673 in 2008
- 6 female births in 2008
- Peak: 1971 (89 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Lynell on both sides of the split. Of the 2,055 people counted with this name, 522 were male (25.4%) and 1,533 were female (74.6%).
Popularity
Lynell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lynell from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 592 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
Lynell 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 Lynell during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lynells live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. Louisiana, California, Texas recorded the most babies named Lynell, while Virginia, Minnesota, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 43 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lynell
The name Lynell is an English masculine given name that originated as a combination of the elements "lyn" meaning "lake" and "el" meaning "elf" or "little one." It first appeared in written records during the 16th century in England, where it was used as a diminutive form of the name Llewelyn.
The name Llewelyn itself has Welsh roots, deriving from the Welsh elements "llyw" meaning "leader" and "llen" meaning "fair" or "handsome." It was a popular name among Welsh royalty and nobility, with several notable figures bearing the name throughout history.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Lynell was Sir Lynell Wakefield, an English knight who fought in the Wars of the Roses during the 15th century. In the 17th century, Lynell Strickland was a prominent English merchant and trader who established trade routes in the East Indies.
During the 18th century, Lynell Meredith was a Welsh poet and writer who published a collection of poems titled "Llawenydd y Bardd" (The Poet's Joy) in 1760. Around the same time, Lynell Griffith was a Welsh minister and theologian known for his sermons and religious writings.
In the 19th century, Lynell Pemberton was an English explorer and naturalist who traveled extensively in Africa and documented his observations of the flora and fauna. He published several books, including "Travels in Equatorial Africa" (1854).
As the name Lynell gained popularity, it was also adopted as a feminine given name, particularly in the United States. One notable bearer of the feminine form was Lynell Jones, an American civil rights activist and educator who worked alongside Martin Luther King Jr. during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s.
While the name Lynell was relatively uncommon throughout history, it has maintained a unique and distinctive quality, often associated with nature, Welsh heritage, and a sense of strength and leadership.
People
Lynell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lynell 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
Lynell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lynell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,124 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lynell 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 161,372 US residents.
Is Lynell a common name?
We classify Lynell as "Rare". It ranks above 93.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,784 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lynell most popular?
The single biggest year for Lynell was 1971, when 103 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lynell is about 55 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lynell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,047 people with the name Lynell, or 0.68 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,454 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 Lynell 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 Lynell?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Lynell on both sides of the split. Of the 2,055 people counted with this name, 522 were male (25.4%) and 1,533 were female (74.6%). 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 Lynell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lynell is White at 45.0%. The next largest groups are Black (42.9%) and Two or More Races (4.7%). 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 Lynell most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lynell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 45.0% (921 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 Lynell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lynell a female name?
Yes, 70.4% of people registered as Lynell in the SSA data are female. 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 Lynell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lynell 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 Lynell 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 Lynell?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.