Maybell
A feminine name derived from the month of May and the flower bellflower.
Name Census estimates that about 247 living Americans carry the first name Maybell. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Maybell today is around 70 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Maybell births was 1919 (73 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Maybell. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Maybell is about 70 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Maybells were born before 1966.
People living today
247
~ 1 in 1,387,669 Americans
Peak year
1919
73 babies that year
Average age
70
years old
2024 SSA rank
#14,602
Tracked since 1882
Census
Maybell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 478 people with the first name Maybell, which placed it at #21,306 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
#21,306
National first-name rank
People counted
478
478 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
39.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Maybell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maybell is Black at 39.5%. The next largest groups are White (32.4%) and Hispanic (16.7%). 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 Maybell 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 Maybell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American39.5% · 189
- White32.4% · 155
- Hispanic or Latino16.7% · 80
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.1% · 34
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.1% · 10
- Two or more races2.1% · 10
Popularity
Maybell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Maybell from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 552 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Maybell 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 Maybell during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Maybells live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. South Carolina, Georgia, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Maybell, while Arkansas, Michigan, Louisiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 41 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Maybell
The name Maybell is an English given name derived from the combination of the names Mary and Bell. The name Mary has Hebrew origins, stemming from the Hebrew name Miryam, which means "beloved" or "loved one". The name Bell, on the other hand, is an English name with Germanic roots, believed to have originated from the Old English word "bell", meaning "bell" or "beautiful".
The earliest recorded use of the name Maybell dates back to the late 19th century in the United States and the United Kingdom. It was particularly popular during the Victorian era, when flower and nature-inspired names were fashionable. The name Maybell likely drew inspiration from the hawthorn flower, also known as the "May-bloom" or "May-bell".
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Maybell was Maybell Leiter, an American socialite who lived from 1881 to 1955. She was the daughter of Levi Ziegler Leiter, a prominent businessman and art collector in Chicago.
Another notable figure with the name Maybell was Maybell Trowbridge (1868-1954), an American actress and singer who performed on Broadway and in vaudeville during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
In the literary realm, Maybell Heikes (1885-1950) was an American writer and poet known for her works such as "The Promised Land" and "The Closed Door".
Moving to the political sphere, Maybell Fogg (1892-1976) was an American politician who served as a member of the Maine House of Representatives from 1947 to 1949.
Lastly, Maybell Herrick (1896-1983) was an American painter and art teacher who gained recognition for her landscape and still-life paintings.
While the name Maybell was once relatively popular, particularly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it has since become less common in modern times. However, its unique blend of nature and tradition continues to make it a charming and intriguing choice for those seeking a name with a rich history and a gentle, feminine quality.
People
Maybell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Maybell 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
Maybell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Maybell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 247 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Maybell 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 1,387,669 US residents.
Is Maybell a common name?
We classify Maybell as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,207 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Maybell most popular?
The single biggest year for Maybell was 1919, when 73 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Maybell is about 70 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Maybell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 478 people with the name Maybell, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #21,306 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 Maybell 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 Maybell?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Maybell leans strongly female. 477 people counted with this name were female (99.0%), compared with 5 male bearers (1.0%). 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 Maybell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maybell is Black at 39.5%. The next largest groups are White (32.4%) and Hispanic (16.7%). 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 Maybell most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Maybell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 39.5% (189 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 Maybell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Maybell a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Maybell 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 Maybell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Maybell 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 Maybell 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 Maybell?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.