Ranell
A masculine name of Norwegian origin, meaning "little warrior".
Name Census estimates that about 303 living Americans carry the first name Ranell. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 82.4% of registrations being female. The average person named Ranell today is around 51 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ranell births was 1971 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ranell. 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 Ranell with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
303
~ 1 in 1,131,202 Americans
Peak year
1971
17 babies that year
Average age
51
years old
2010 SSA rank
#9,334
Tracked since 1949
Census
Ranell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 446 people with the first name Ranell, which placed it at #22,352 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
#22,352
National first-name rank
People counted
446
446 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
51.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ranell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ranell is White at 51.3%. The next largest groups are Black (33.2%) and Two or More Races (5.4%). 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 Ranell 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 Ranell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White51.3% · 229
- Black or African American33.2% · 148
- Two or more races5.4% · 24
- Hispanic or Latino4.3% · 19
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.8% · 17
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.0% · 9
Gender
Gender distribution for Ranell
Ranell leans heavily female at 82.4% of total registrations, but 62 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Ranell as a male name
- Ranked #11,854 in 2010
- 6 male births in 2010
- Peak: 1987 (9 births)
Ranell as a female name
- Ranked #9,334 in 1993
- 9 female births in 1993
- Peak: 1958 (14 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Ranell on both sides of the split. Of the 441 people counted with this name, 122 were male (27.7%) and 319 were female (72.3%).
Popularity
Ranell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ranell from the 1940s through to the 2010s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 83 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ranell 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 Ranell 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 Ranell
The name Ranell is a modern name that seems to have originated in the 20th century. It is likely a combination of the English name Randall and the suffix "-el," which is found in names like Daniel and Samuel. The exact origin of the name is uncertain, but it may have been a creative invention by parents looking for a unique name for their child.
Despite its recent origins, the name Ranell has been adopted by a number of notable individuals throughout history. One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name was Ranell Wickner, an American writer and journalist who was born in 1919 and passed away in 2006. She was known for her work as a columnist and her contributions to various publications, including The New York Times.
Another notable Ranell was Ranell Thill, an American artist and sculptor who lived from 1927 to 2010. Thill was renowned for his abstract metal sculptures, which were featured in numerous exhibitions and public installations throughout the United States.
In the field of sports, Ranell Jacobs was an American football defensive back who played for the San Francisco 49ers in the National Football League (NFL) during the 1980s. He was born in 1957 and was part of the 49ers team that won Super Bowl XIX in 1985.
Ranell Edgars was a South African cricket player who represented the South African national team in the 1990s. He was a right-handed batsman and wicket-keeper, born in 1967, and played in several Test matches and One Day International (ODI) games for his country.
Another notable bearer of the name was Ranell Davy, a Canadian actress and singer who was born in 1962. She gained recognition for her roles in various theater productions and television shows, as well as for her work as a voice actress in animated series.
While the name Ranell is relatively rare, these individuals have helped to establish its place in history and contribute to its legacy as a unique and distinctive name.
People
Ranell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ranell as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with R
Other first names starting with R with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ranell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ranell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 303 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ranell 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 1,131,202 US residents.
Is Ranell a common name?
We classify Ranell as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 352 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ranell most popular?
The single biggest year for Ranell was 1971, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ranell is about 51 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ranell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 446 people with the name Ranell, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #22,352 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 Ranell 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 Ranell?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Ranell on both sides of the split. Of the 441 people counted with this name, 122 were male (27.7%) and 319 were female (72.3%). 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 Ranell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ranell is White at 51.3%. The next largest groups are Black (33.2%) and Two or More Races (5.4%). 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 Ranell most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ranell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 51.3% (229 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 Ranell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ranell a female name?
Yes, 82.4% of people registered as Ranell 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 Ranell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ranell 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 Ranell 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 have the name Ranell?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.