Rudell
A variant spelling of the German name Rudolf meaning "fame-wolf".
Name Census estimates that about 241 living Americans carry the first name Rudell. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 51.0% of registrations being male. The average person named Rudell today is around 71 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rudell births was 1926 (31 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rudell. 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
- • The typical person named Rudell is about 71 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Rudells were born before 1965.
People living today
241
~ 1 in 1,422,217 Americans
Peak year
1926
31 babies that year
Average age
71
years old
1992 SSA rank
#6,259
Tracked since 1910
Census
Rudell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 320 people with the first name Rudell, which placed it at #28,183 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
#28,183
National first-name rank
People counted
320
320 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
63.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rudell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rudell is Black at 63.8%. The next largest groups are White (26.6%) and Hispanic (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 Rudell 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 Rudell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American63.8% · 204
- White26.6% · 85
- Hispanic or Latino4.4% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.8% · 9
- Two or more races2.2% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Rudell
Rudell is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 772 total registrations, 394 (51.0%) were male and 378 (49.0%) were female.
Rudell as a male name
- Ranked #9,547 in 1992
- 5 male births in 1992
- Peak: 1959 (24 births)
Rudell as a female name
- Ranked #6,259 in 1960
- 6 female births in 1960
- Peak: 1923 (19 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Rudell on both sides of the split. Of the 315 people counted with this name, 189 were male (60.0%) and 126 were female (40.0%).
Popularity
Rudell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rudell from the 1910s through to the 1990s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 220 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rudell 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 Rudell during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rudells live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Kentucky, Mississippi, South Carolina recorded the most babies named Rudell, while South Carolina, Mississippi, Kentucky recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 7 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rudell
The given name Rudell has its origins in the German language, derived from the Germanic root words "hruod" meaning fame or glory, and "wald" meaning rule or power. It is believed to have emerged during the Middle Ages, around the 11th or 12th century, in the regions of present-day Germany and Austria.
One of the earliest known references to the name Rudell can be found in the "Codex Diplomaticus Saxoniae Regiae," a collection of historical documents from the Duchy of Saxony, where a nobleman named Rudell von Mühlhausen is mentioned in a charter dated 1142. This suggests that the name was in use among the nobility of the region during that time.
In the 13th century, a Benedictine monk named Rudell von Regensburg is recorded as the author of a religious treatise titled "De Vita Contemplativa," which explored the contemplative life and spirituality within the monastic tradition. This work is still studied by scholars of medieval religious literature.
During the Renaissance period, a notable figure named Rudell von Nürnberg (1477-1542) gained prominence as a master goldsmith and engraver in the city of Nuremberg. His intricate metalwork and engravings were highly sought after by the nobility and wealthy patrons of the era.
In the 17th century, a German composer and organist named Rudell Schütz (1585-1672) made significant contributions to the development of the Protestant church music tradition. His compositions, including numerous motets and sacred works, were widely performed and admired during his lifetime.
Another notable figure bearing the name Rudell was a French explorer and cartographer, Rudell de La Salle (1643-1687), who is credited with exploring the Great Lakes region of North America and the Mississippi River basin. His detailed maps and accounts of the territories he explored were instrumental in the early European understanding of the North American continent.
These are just a few examples of historical figures who carried the given name Rudell, highlighting its rich heritage and its use across various fields and regions over the centuries.
People
Rudell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rudell 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
Rudell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rudell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 241 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rudell 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 1,422,217 US residents.
Is Rudell a common name?
We classify Rudell as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 772 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rudell most popular?
The single biggest year for Rudell was 1926, when 31 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rudell is about 71 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rudell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 320 people with the name Rudell, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #28,183 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 Rudell 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 Rudell?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Rudell on both sides of the split. Of the 315 people counted with this name, 189 were male (60.0%) and 126 were female (40.0%). 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 Rudell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rudell is Black at 63.8%. The next largest groups are White (26.6%) and Hispanic (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 Rudell most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Rudell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.8% (204 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 Rudell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rudell a male name?
Yes, 51.0% of people registered as Rudell 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 Rudell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rudell 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 Rudell 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 Rudell?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.