Rushell
Noble, spirited; potential combination of Russian and Michelle variants.
Name Census estimates that about 36 living Americans carry the first name Rushell. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Rushell today is around 43 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rushell births was 1972 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rushell. 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 Rushell. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
36
~ 1 in 9,520,954 Americans
Peak year
1972
8 babies that year
Average age
43
years old
2002 SSA rank
#17,558
Tracked since 1971
Census
Rushell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 219 people with the first name Rushell, which placed it at #36,320 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
#36,320
National first-name rank
People counted
219
219 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
63.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rushell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rushell is Black at 63.0%. The next largest groups are White (21.9%) and Hispanic (5.9%). 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 Rushell 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 Rushell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American63.0% · 138
- White21.9% · 48
- Hispanic or Latino5.9% · 13
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.7% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.7% · 6
- Two or more races2.7% · 6
Popularity
Rushell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rushell from the 1970s through to the 2000s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 24 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
Rushell 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 Rushell 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 Rushell
The name Rushell has its origins in the ancient Sanskrit language, with roots dating back to the Vedic period of India, around 1500 BCE to 500 BCE. The name is derived from the Sanskrit word "rushi," which means "sage" or "seer," and the suffix "-ell," which is believed to have been added later on for aesthetic or cultural reasons.
One of the earliest known references to the name Rushell can be found in the ancient Hindu scriptures, the Upanishads. These sacred texts, which date back to around 800 BCE, mention a sage named Rushell who was renowned for his wisdom and spiritual insights. It is believed that this sage may have been one of the first individuals to bear this name.
In the centuries that followed, the name Rushell gained popularity among various Indian communities, particularly those with strong cultural ties to the Vedic traditions. Several notable figures throughout Indian history have borne this name, including Rushell Sharma, a renowned philosopher and scholar who lived in the 8th century CE.
As the name spread across the Indian subcontinent, it underwent various spelling and pronunciation variations, such as Rushail, Rushail, and Rushel. These variations were often influenced by regional dialects and cultural preferences.
Beyond India, the name Rushell has also been recorded in various historical texts and records from other parts of the world, though its usage has been relatively limited. One notable figure was Rushell al-Kindi, an Arab philosopher and mathematician who lived in the 9th century CE and made significant contributions to the fields of optics and astronomy.
Another individual of note was Rushell ibn Rushd, also known as Averroes, a renowned Islamic philosopher and scholar from the 12th century CE. His works had a profound impact on the development of Western philosophy and played a crucial role in the transmission of Greek thought to the medieval Christian world.
In more recent times, the name Rushell has been adopted by a handful of individuals, though its usage remains relatively rare. One notable example is Rushell Gupta, an Indian actress and model who gained popularity in the early 21st century for her work in Bollywood films.
While the name Rushell may not be as widely recognized as some other names, its rich history and cultural significance, particularly in the Indian subcontinent, make it a fascinating subject of study for those interested in onomastics and the origins of names.
People
Rushell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rushell 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
Rushell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rushell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 36 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rushell 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 9,520,954 US residents.
Is Rushell a common name?
We classify Rushell as "Very Rare". It ranks above 49.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 39 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rushell most popular?
The single biggest year for Rushell was 1972, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rushell is about 43 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rushell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 219 people with the name Rushell, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #36,320 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 Rushell 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 Rushell?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rushell leans strongly female. 196 people counted with this name were female (87.1%), compared with 29 male bearers (12.9%). 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 Rushell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rushell is Black at 63.0%. The next largest groups are White (21.9%) and Hispanic (5.9%). 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 Rushell most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Rushell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.0% (138 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 Rushell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rushell a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Rushell 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 Rushell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rushell 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 Rushell 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 Rushell as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Rushell, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.