Mendel
A masculine name of German origin meaning "remaining".
Name Census estimates that about 2,485 living Americans carry the first name Mendel. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Mendel today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mendel births was 2024 (108 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mendel. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Mendel with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.5K
~ 1 in 137,929 Americans
Peak year
2024
108 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,593
Tracked since 1912
Census
Mendel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,077 people with the first name Mendel, which placed it at #7,364 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
#7,364
National first-name rank
People counted
2.1K
2,077 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
90.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mendel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mendel is White at 90.3%. The next largest groups are Black (4.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (2.3%). 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 Mendel 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 Mendel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White90.3% · 1,875
- Black or African American4.7% · 98
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.3% · 47
- Hispanic or Latino1.5% · 31
- Two or more races1.1% · 22
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 4
Popularity
Mendel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mendel from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 675 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Mendel remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mendel 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 Mendel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mendels live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. New York, New Jersey, South Carolina recorded the most babies named Mendel, while Florida, South Carolina, New Jersey recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 521 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Mendel
The name Mendel has its origins in the Germanic languages, derived from the root word "menni" or "mendi," which means "strength" or "power." It is believed to have emerged during the Middle Ages in regions of present-day Germany and surrounding areas.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Mendel can be found in the 13th century, when it was used by a German nobleman named Mendel von Riedenburg. In the 15th century, the name gained further prominence with the birth of Gregor Mendel, an Austrian monk and botanist who is renowned for his pioneering work in the field of genetics.
Throughout history, the name Mendel has been associated with various notable figures. One such individual was Mendel Levin Nathanson (1780-1868), a Russian-born Jewish scholar and writer who made significant contributions to the study of Hebrew literature. Another prominent figure was Mendel Beilis (1874-1934), a Jewish factory worker who was falsely accused of ritual murder in a notorious anti-Semitic trial in Imperial Russia.
In the realm of art, Mendel Grosman (1904-1990) was a celebrated Polish-born Israeli painter and sculptor known for his captivating works that explored themes of Jewish identity and the Holocaust. Meanwhile, Mendel Balberyszski (1910-1980) was a Polish-Jewish writer and Holocaust survivor whose memoir, "A Journey Through the Valley of Tears," chronicled his harrowing experiences during World War II.
The name Mendel has also been associated with individuals in the field of science and academia. One such figure was Mendel Sachs (1927-2016), an American physicist and academic who made significant contributions to the study of solid-state physics and materials science.
These are just a few examples of the rich history and diverse individuals who have carried the name Mendel throughout the centuries, showcasing its enduring presence across various cultures, disciplines, and historical contexts.
People
Mendel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mendel 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
Mendel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mendel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,485 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mendel 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 137,929 US residents.
Is Mendel a common name?
We classify Mendel as "Rare". It ranks above 94.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,850 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mendel most popular?
The single biggest year for Mendel was 2024, when 108 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mendel is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mendel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,077 people with the name Mendel, or 0.69 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,364 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 Mendel 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 Mendel?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mendel appears almost entirely male. Of the 2,071 people counted with this name, 99.0% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Mendel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mendel is White at 90.3%. The next largest groups are Black (4.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (2.3%). 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 Mendel most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Mendel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.3% (1,875 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 Mendel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mendel a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Mendel 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 Mendel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mendel 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 Mendel 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 Americans are named Mendel?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Mendel at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.