Rendell
From the early English words meaning "well-counseled" or "prudent".
Name Census estimates that about 536 living Americans carry the first name Rendell. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Rendell today is around 48 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rendell births was 1972 (29 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rendell. 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
536
~ 1 in 639,467 Americans
Peak year
1972
29 babies that year
Average age
48
years old
2023 SSA rank
#13,719
Tracked since 1939
Census
Rendell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 571 people with the first name Rendell, which placed it at #18,776 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
#18,776
National first-name rank
People counted
571
571 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
46.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rendell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rendell is Black at 46.4%. The next largest groups are White (30.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (13.0%). 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 Rendell 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 Rendell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American46.4% · 265
- White30.5% · 174
- Asian and Pacific Islander13.0% · 74
- Hispanic or Latino3.9% · 22
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.5% · 20
- Two or more races2.8% · 16
Popularity
Rendell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rendell from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 163 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
Rendell 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 Rendell during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rendells live
Origin
Meaning and history of Rendell
The name Rendell is of English origin, derived from the Old English words "randen" meaning "border" or "boundary," and "hyll" meaning "hill." It was originally a surname given to those who lived near a boundary hill or marker.
In its earliest recorded use, the name appeared in the Domesday Book of 1086, a comprehensive survey of England and parts of Wales commissioned by William the Conqueror. This early documentation suggests the name has been in use for over a thousand years.
While not explicitly mentioned in religious or ancient texts, the name's association with boundaries and landmarks may have held significance in early English settlements and land divisions.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Rendell was Sir Thomas Rendell, an English landowner and Member of Parliament for Oxfordshire in the late 16th century.
Another notable figure was John Rendell (1726-1792), an English engineer and architect who designed the Tyne Bridge in Newcastle upon Tyne, one of the earliest major bridges built from cast iron.
In the 19th century, William Rendell (1815-1895) was a prominent British architect known for his work on the Highclere Castle in Hampshire, the setting for the popular TV series "Downton Abbey."
The name gained further recognition with Ruth Rendell (1930-2015), the acclaimed British author of psychological thrillers and crime novels. She was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1996.
More recently, Jonny Rendell (born 1980) is a British musician and guitarist, known for his work with the rock band Muse and as a session musician for various artists.
While the name Rendell has deep roots in English history and culture, it has also been adopted and used in other parts of the world, reflecting the spread and influence of English language and names.
People
Rendell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rendell 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
Rendell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rendell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 536 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rendell 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 639,467 US residents.
Is Rendell a common name?
We classify Rendell as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 604 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rendell most popular?
The single biggest year for Rendell was 1972, when 29 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rendell is about 48 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rendell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 571 people with the name Rendell, or 0.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,776 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 Rendell 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 Rendell?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rendell leans strongly male. 551 people counted with this name were male (96.3%), compared with 21 female bearers (3.7%). 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 Rendell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rendell is Black at 46.4%. The next largest groups are White (30.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (13.0%). 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 Rendell most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Rendell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 46.4% (265 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 Rendell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rendell a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Rendell 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 Rendell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rendell 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 Rendell 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 common is the name Rendell?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.