Purnell
A masculine name of Old English origin meaning "someone who dwells by the stream".
Name Census estimates that about 472 living Americans carry the first name Purnell. It is a predominantly male name (99.2% of registrations). The average person named Purnell today is around 59 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Purnell births was 1919 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Purnell. 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
472
~ 1 in 726,174 Americans
Peak year
1919
21 babies that year
Average age
59
years old
2010 SSA rank
#4,702
Tracked since 1913
Census
Purnell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 411 people with the first name Purnell, which placed it at #23,711 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
#23,711
National first-name rank
People counted
411
411 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
82.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Purnell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Purnell is Black at 82.5%. The next largest groups are White (9.2%) and Two or More Races (4.4%). 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 Purnell 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 Purnell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American82.5% · 339
- White9.2% · 38
- Two or more races4.4% · 18
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.9% · 8
- Hispanic or Latino1.5% · 6
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 2
Gender
Gender distribution for Purnell
Out of the 768 babies given the name Purnell since 1880, 99.2% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Purnell as a male name
- Ranked #11,831 in 2010
- 6 male births in 2010
- Peak: 1964 (19 births)
Purnell as a female name
- Ranked #4,702 in 1919
- 6 female births in 1919
- Peak: 1919 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Purnell leans strongly male. 386 people counted with this name were male (95.3%), compared with 19 female bearers (4.7%).
Popularity
Purnell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Purnell from the 1910s through to the 2010s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 126 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Purnell 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 Purnell during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Purnells live
Origin
Meaning and history of Purnell
The name Purnell is believed to have originated from the Old English word "purnan," which means "to turn or wind." This name was likely given to individuals who lived near a winding stream or river.
In the early medieval period, the name was more commonly spelled as "Purnell" or "Purnelle." It was particularly popular in the regions of Shropshire and Staffordshire in England.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Purnell can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it is listed as a surname. This suggests that the name had already been in use for some time before the Norman Conquest.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Purnell. One such person was Thomas Purnell (1608-1658), an English clergyman and writer who served as the Rector of Stowe in Staffordshire.
Another prominent figure was Samuel Purnell (1682-1744), an English Quaker and philanthropist who founded the Purnell School for poor children in Shropshire.
In the 19th century, Frederick Purnell (1817-1896) was a prominent English architect who designed several notable buildings, including the Royal Albert Hall in London.
Purnell Dickenson (1867-1945) was an American businessman and politician who served as the Governor of Nevada from 1923 to 1927.
More recently, Robert Purnell (1925-2011) was a British actor and writer best known for his roles in television series such as "The Avengers" and "Doctor Who."
While the name Purnell is not as common today as it once was, it has a rich history and has been borne by individuals from various walks of life throughout the centuries.
People
Purnell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Purnell 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
Purnell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Purnell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 472 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Purnell 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 726,174 US residents.
Is Purnell a common name?
We classify Purnell as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 768 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Purnell most popular?
The single biggest year for Purnell was 1919, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Purnell is about 59 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Purnell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 411 people with the name Purnell, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #23,711 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 Purnell 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 Purnell?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Purnell leans strongly male. 386 people counted with this name were male (95.3%), compared with 19 female bearers (4.7%). 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 Purnell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Purnell is Black at 82.5%. The next largest groups are White (9.2%) and Two or More Races (4.4%). 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 Purnell most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Purnell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.5% (339 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 Purnell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Purnell a male name?
Yes, 99.2% of people registered as Purnell 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 Purnell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Purnell 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 Purnell 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 Purnell?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.