Pharell
A French name meaning "from the little town of Farell".
Name Census estimates that about 185 living Americans carry the first name Pharell. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Pharell today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Pharell births was 2004 (24 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Pharell. 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 Pharell with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
185
~ 1 in 1,852,726 Americans
Peak year
2004
24 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2019 SSA rank
#13,625
Tracked since 2002
Census
Pharell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 146 people with the first name Pharell, which placed it at #46,062 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
#46,062
National first-name rank
People counted
146
146 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
83.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Pharell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Pharell is Black at 83.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.2%) and White (2.7%). 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 Pharell 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 Pharell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American83.6% · 122
- Hispanic or Latino8.2% · 12
- White2.7% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.1% · 3
- Two or more races2.1% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 2
Popularity
Pharell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Pharell from the 2000s through to the 2010s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 131 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Pharell remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Pharell 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 Pharell during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Pharells live
Origin
Meaning and history of Pharell
The name Pharell is believed to have originated from the ancient Phoenician language, with roots dating back to around the 8th century BCE. It is thought to be derived from the Phoenician word "par'el," which means "to separate" or "to distinguish."
In the ancient Mediterranean world, the Phoenicians were renowned for their seafaring and trading prowess. They established settlements and outposts throughout the region, including in modern-day Lebanon, Syria, and parts of North Africa. It is possible that the name Pharell was used by Phoenician traders or sailors who sought to distinguish themselves from others.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Pharell can be found in an ancient Phoenician inscription dated to the 6th century BCE. The inscription was discovered in the city of Byblos, which was an important Phoenician center of commerce and culture.
In the medieval period, the name Pharell appears to have been adopted by some Christian communities in the Middle East and North Africa. It is mentioned in a few religious texts and manuscripts from that time, although its usage was likely limited.
One notable historical figure with the name Pharell was Pharell ibn al-Qasim, a 12th-century scholar and philosopher from the city of Cordoba in modern-day Spain. He was renowned for his writings on ethics and metaphysics, and his works were influential among Islamic scholars of the time.
Another individual of note was Pharell al-Dimashqi, a 13th-century Arab historian and geographer from Damascus. He authored several important works on the history and geography of the Islamic world, including a comprehensive treatise on the various regions and peoples of the time.
In the 15th century, there was a Pharell ibn Abi al-Fadl, a renowned calligrapher and scribe from Cairo, Egypt. His beautifully crafted manuscripts and documents were highly prized and sought after by scholars and nobility alike.
A century later, in the 16th century, there was a Pharell al-Qahiri, a renowned poet and literary figure from Cairo. His work was celebrated for its elegant style and profound insights, and he was considered one of the leading poets of his era.
Finally, in the 18th century, there was a Pharell al-Baghdadi, a respected Islamic scholar and jurist from Baghdad, Iraq. He was renowned for his expertise in Islamic law and jurisprudence, and his writings were widely studied and referenced by legal scholars of the time.
People
Pharell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Pharell as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with P
Other first names starting with P with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Pharell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Pharell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 185 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Pharell 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 1,852,726 US residents.
Is Pharell a common name?
We classify Pharell as "Very Rare". It ranks above 73.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 187 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Pharell most popular?
The single biggest year for Pharell was 2004, when 24 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Pharell is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Pharell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 146 people with the name Pharell, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #46,062 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 Pharell 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 Pharell?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Pharell leans strongly male. 145 people counted with this name were male (96.0%), compared with 6 female bearers (4.0%). 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 Pharell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Pharell is Black at 83.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.2%) and White (2.7%). 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 Pharell most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Pharell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.6% (122 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 Pharell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Pharell a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Pharell 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 Pharell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Pharell 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 Pharell 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 Pharell?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.