Orell
A diminutive Germanic name potentially derived from ari meaning "eagle".
Name Census estimates that about 37 living Americans carry the first name Orell. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 78.2% of registrations being male. The average person named Orell today is around 77 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Orell births was 1921 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Orell. 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 Orell is about 77 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Orells were born before 1959.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Orell. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
37
~ 1 in 9,263,631 Americans
Peak year
1921
16 babies that year
Average age
77
years old
1979 SSA rank
#5,411
Tracked since 1914
Census
Orell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 147 people with the first name Orell, which placed it at #45,869 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
#45,869
National first-name rank
People counted
147
147 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
57.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Orell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Orell is Black at 57.8%. The next largest groups are White (33.3%) and Two or More Races (4.1%). 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 Orell 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 Orell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American57.8% · 85
- White33.3% · 49
- Two or more races4.1% · 6
- Hispanic or Latino2.7% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.0% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Orell
Orell is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 202 total registrations, 158 (78.2%) were male and 44 (21.8%) were female.
Orell as a male name
- Ranked #6,769 in 1979
- 5 male births in 1979
- Peak: 1921 (9 births)
Orell as a female name
- Ranked #5,411 in 1927
- 5 female births in 1927
- Peak: 1918 (7 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Orell leans strongly male. 117 people counted with this name were male (80.1%), compared with 29 female bearers (19.9%).
Popularity
Orell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Orell from the 1910s through to the 1970s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 81 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Orell 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 Orell during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Orell
The given name Orell has its origins in the Old Norse language, which was spoken by the Scandinavian peoples during the Viking Age, roughly from the 8th to the 11th centuries. The name is believed to be derived from the Old Norse word "orl," meaning "battle" or "war." This suggests that the name may have been initially bestowed upon individuals who were renowned for their valor and prowess in combat.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Orell can be found in the Icelandic sagas, a collection of narratives that recount the stories and exploits of the Viking settlers of Iceland. In these sagas, Orell is mentioned as the name of a warrior who fought alongside the legendary Norse hero, Ragnar Lodbrok, during his conquest of parts of modern-day France and England in the 9th century.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Orell appeared sporadically in various historical records across Scandinavia and other regions influenced by Norse culture. One notable bearer of the name was Orell Thorvaldsson, a 12th-century Icelandic chieftain and lawspeaker who played a pivotal role in the establishment of the Althing, one of the oldest surviving parliamentary institutions in the world.
In the 13th century, an Orell Jonsson was recorded as a prominent Swedish nobleman and military commander who fought in the Swedish-Novgorodian Wars against the Republic of Novgorod, a powerful medieval state located in modern-day Russia.
During the Renaissance period, the name Orell gained some popularity in certain parts of Europe, particularly in Germany and the Netherlands. One notable figure from this time was Orell von Büren, a 16th-century German mercenary captain who fought in the Italian Wars and later served as a military advisor to several German princes.
In the 18th century, an Orell Eriksson emerged as a prominent Swedish explorer and cartographer, credited with mapping vast regions of Scandinavia and contributing to the advancement of geographical knowledge during that era.
Throughout its long history, the name Orell has been borne by individuals from various walks of life, including warriors, nobles, explorers, and scholars, reflecting its proud and dynamic heritage rooted in the language and culture of the ancient Norse peoples.
People
Orell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Orell as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with O
Other first names starting with O with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Orell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Orell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 37 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Orell 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 9,263,631 US residents.
Is Orell a common name?
We classify Orell as "Very Rare". It ranks above 49.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 202 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Orell most popular?
The single biggest year for Orell was 1921, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Orell is about 77 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Orell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 147 people with the name Orell, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #45,869 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 Orell 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 Orell?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Orell leans strongly male. 117 people counted with this name were male (80.1%), compared with 29 female bearers (19.9%). 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 Orell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Orell is Black at 57.8%. The next largest groups are White (33.3%) and Two or More Races (4.1%). 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 Orell most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Orell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.8% (85 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 Orell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Orell a male name?
Yes, 78.2% of people registered as Orell 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 Orell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Orell 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 Orell 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 called Orell?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.