Mandel
A diminutive of the Hebrew name Emmanuel, meaning "God is with us."
Name Census estimates that about 436 living Americans carry the first name Mandel. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Mandel today is around 49 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mandel births was 1973 (23 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mandel. 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
436
~ 1 in 786,134 Americans
Peak year
1973
23 babies that year
Average age
49
years old
2011 SSA rank
#11,746
Tracked since 1913
Census
Mandel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 451 people with the first name Mandel, which placed it at #22,181 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
#22,181
National first-name rank
People counted
451
451 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
55.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mandel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mandel is Black at 55.2%. The next largest groups are White (26.6%) and Hispanic (8.2%). 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 Mandel 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 Mandel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American55.2% · 249
- White26.6% · 120
- Hispanic or Latino8.2% · 37
- Two or more races4.0% · 18
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.1% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.9% · 13
Popularity
Mandel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mandel from the 1910s through to the 2010s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 171 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mandel 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 Mandel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mandels live
Origin
Meaning and history of Mandel
The given name Mandel is of German origin, derived from the Middle High German word "mandel," meaning "almond." Its earliest roots can be traced back to the Old High German "mandala," which is believed to have originated from the Latin word "amandola," a diminutive form of "amygdala," referring to the almond-shaped tonsil.
Mandel was initially a surname, especially common in regions like Bavaria and Austria, where almond cultivation was prevalent. It later transitioned into a first name, primarily used in German-speaking countries and Jewish communities. The name's association with the almond tree and its fruits symbolized fertility, abundance, and vitality.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Mandel can be found in the 12th-century German epic poem "Nibelungenlied," where it appears as a character's surname. In the 16th century, the name gained popularity among Jewish families, possibly due to its resemblance to the Hebrew word "mandelah," meaning "branch" or "offshoot."
Historically, several notable individuals have borne the name Mandel. One of the earliest was Mandel Nürnberger (c. 1616-1663), a prominent German-Jewish merchant and financier who played a significant role in the development of the banking industry in Frankfurt. Another notable figure was Mandel Kramer (1842-1924), a German-Jewish author and journalist known for his writings on Jewish culture and history.
In the 20th century, Mandel gained wider recognition through individuals like Mandel Ngan (1924-2018), a renowned American photographer who worked for the Associated Press and captured iconic moments in American history. Mandel Neville (1905-1997), an Australian lawyer and judge, served as a Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and made significant contributions to the legal system.
Additionally, Mandel Brothers was a prominent American department store chain founded in the late 19th century by the Mandel brothers, German-Jewish immigrants who established their business in Chicago. The store's success and longevity further solidified the name's presence in American culture.
Other notable individuals with the first name Mandel include Mandel Shkolnik (1913-1937), a Soviet Yiddish poet and writer, and Mandel Lichtenstein (1925-1990), a Polish-born Israeli painter and sculptor known for his abstract expressionist works.
People
Mandel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mandel as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Mandel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mandel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 436 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mandel 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 786,134 US residents.
Is Mandel a common name?
We classify Mandel as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 583 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mandel most popular?
The single biggest year for Mandel was 1973, when 23 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mandel is about 49 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mandel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 451 people with the name Mandel, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #22,181 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 Mandel 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 Mandel?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mandel leans strongly male. 434 people counted with this name were male (96.9%), compared with 14 female bearers (3.1%). 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 Mandel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mandel is Black at 55.2%. The next largest groups are White (26.6%) and Hispanic (8.2%). 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 Mandel most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Mandel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 55.2% (249 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 Mandel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mandel a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Mandel 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 Mandel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mandel 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 Mandel 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 Mandel?
See how many people have the name Mandel on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.