Meshelle
A feminine name of debated origin, perhaps a combination of Michelle and Shelly.
Name Census estimates that about 273 living Americans carry the first name Meshelle. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Meshelle today is around 52 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Meshelle births was 1966 (22 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Meshelle. 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
273
~ 1 in 1,255,510 Americans
Peak year
1966
22 babies that year
Average age
52
years old
1997 SSA rank
#10,460
Tracked since 1954
Census
Meshelle in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 326 people with the first name Meshelle, which placed it at #27,839 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
#27,839
National first-name rank
People counted
326
326 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
50.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Meshelle
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Meshelle is White at 50.9%. The next largest groups are Black (38.3%) and Two or More Races (6.1%). 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 Meshelle 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 Meshelle at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White50.9% · 166
- Black or African American38.3% · 125
- Two or more races6.1% · 20
- Hispanic or Latino3.7% · 12
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 3
Popularity
Meshelle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Meshelle from the 1950s through to the 1990s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 118 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1960s peak, Meshelle remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Meshelle 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 Meshelle during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Meshelles live
Origin
Meaning and history of Meshelle
The name Meshelle is an English spelling variation of the French name Michelle, which is derived from the Hebrew name Michael. This name has its origins dating back to ancient times.
Michael is a Hebrew name composed of the elements mi meaning "who" and el meaning "God". It can be interpreted to mean "who is like God?" or "one who is godlike". The name was borne by one of the archangels in the Bible and the Quran.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Michael is from the Book of Daniel in the Bible, where the archangel Michael is mentioned as a protector of Israel. The name was also used by various saints and early Christians in the first few centuries AD.
In the Middle Ages, the name Michael was popular among the nobility and royalty of Europe. Some notable historical figures with the name include Michael III, who ruled as the Byzantine Emperor from 842 to 867 AD, and Michael VIII Palaiologos, who reigned as the Byzantine Emperor from 1259 to 1282 AD.
The French feminine form Michelle emerged in the 12th century and became popular in France and other parts of Europe. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Michelle is Saint Michelle de l'Aubespine, who lived in the 13th century.
As the name spread across Europe, it encountered various spellings and regional variations. The spelling Meshelle is an English variation that emerged in the 20th century, possibly influenced by the French pronunciation and spelling.
Historical figures named Meshelle include Meshelle Ndegeocello, an American singer and bassist born in 1968, and Meshelle Miller, an American model and actress born in 1990.
People
Meshelle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Meshelle 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
Meshelle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Meshelle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 273 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Meshelle 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 1,255,510 US residents.
Is Meshelle a common name?
We classify Meshelle as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 310 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Meshelle most popular?
The single biggest year for Meshelle was 1966, when 22 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Meshelle is about 52 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Meshelle in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 326 people with the name Meshelle, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #27,839 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 Meshelle 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 Meshelle?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Meshelle appears almost entirely female. Of the 324 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Meshelle?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Meshelle is White at 50.9%. The next largest groups are Black (38.3%) and Two or More Races (6.1%). 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 Meshelle most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Meshelle in the 2020 Census, accounting for 50.9% (166 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 Meshelle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Meshelle a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Meshelle 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 Meshelle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Meshelle 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 Meshelle 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 Meshelle?
See how many people share the name Meshelle on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.