Ronzell
A masculine name of uncertain origin, possibly derived from a French surname.
Name Census estimates that about 84 living Americans carry the first name Ronzell. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Ronzell today is around 37 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ronzell births was 1991 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ronzell. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Ronzell. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
84
~ 1 in 4,080,409 Americans
Peak year
1991
10 babies that year
Average age
37
years old
2005 SSA rank
#12,977
Tracked since 1970
Census
Ronzell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 143 people with the first name Ronzell, which placed it at #46,519 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
#46,519
National first-name rank
People counted
143
143 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
88.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ronzell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ronzell is Black at 88.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.9%) and White (4.2%). 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 Ronzell 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 Ronzell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American88.1% · 126
- Two or more races4.9% · 7
- White4.2% · 6
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.1% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 1
Popularity
Ronzell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ronzell from the 1970s through to the 2000s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 45 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ronzell 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 Ronzell 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 Ronzell
The given name Ronzell has its roots in the ancient Germanic languages, with origins dating back to the 5th century AD. The name is derived from the Old Germanic words "ragin" and "zalj," which together translate to "mighty council" or "wise advisor."
In the early medieval period, the name Ronzell was particularly popular among the Frankish tribes of present-day France and Germany. It was often bestowed upon those who held positions of authority or were respected for their wisdom and counsel within their communities.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ronzell can be found in the Codex Argenteus, a 6th-century manuscript containing fragments of a Gothic translation of the Bible. Here, the name is spelled "Raunzels" and is attributed to a minor figure in the biblical narrative.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Ronzell maintained its presence, particularly in the annals of Germanic nobility. Notable figures bearing this name include Ronzell von Edelstein (1212-1278), a prominent German knight and landowner, and Ronzell de Montfort (1315-1382), a French nobleman and military commander during the Hundred Years' War.
As the Renaissance dawned, the name Ronzell experienced a resurgence in popularity, often appearing in literary works and historical accounts. One such example is Ronzell Saxe (1489-1556), a renowned German humanist scholar and philosopher who contributed significantly to the intellectual discourse of the time.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, the name Ronzell found its way into the arts and sciences. Ronzell Vermeer (1632-1675) was a Dutch Golden Age painter, best known for his masterpiece, "The Girl with the Pearl Earring." Ronzell Huygens (1629-1695), a Dutch mathematician and astronomer, made significant contributions to the development of modern calculus and the study of celestial mechanics.
As the name Ronzell traversed through the centuries, it continued to be borne by individuals of note. Ronzell Bismarck (1815-1898), the renowned German statesman and chancellor, played a pivotal role in the unification of Germany in the 19th century. More recently, Ronzell Gould (1924-2005) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer, renowned for his contributions to the bebop and cool jazz movements.
People
Ronzell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ronzell 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
Ronzell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ronzell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 84 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ronzell 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 4,080,409 US residents.
Is Ronzell a common name?
We classify Ronzell as "Very Rare". It ranks above 62% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 87 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ronzell most popular?
The single biggest year for Ronzell was 1991, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ronzell is about 37 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ronzell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 143 people with the name Ronzell, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #46,519 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 Ronzell 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 Ronzell?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ronzell leans strongly male. 135 people counted with this name were male (97.1%), compared with 4 female bearers (2.9%). 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 Ronzell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ronzell is Black at 88.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.9%) and White (4.2%). 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 Ronzell most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Ronzell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.1% (126 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 Ronzell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ronzell a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ronzell 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 Ronzell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ronzell 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 Ronzell 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 Americans are named Ronzell?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.