Russell
A masculine name of Germanic origin meaning "little red one".
Name Census estimates that about 220,395 living Americans carry the first name Russell. It sits at #367 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (99.5% of registrations). The average person named Russell today is around 57 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Russell births was 1960 (7,505 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Russell. 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 Russell with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Russell is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 1,696 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
220K
~ 1 in 1,555 Americans
Peak year
1960
7,505 babies that year
Average age
57
years old
2024 SSA rank
#367
Tracked since 1880
Census
Russell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 202,727 people with the first name Russell, which placed it at #271 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
#271
National first-name rank
People counted
203K
202,727 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
67.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
86.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Russell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Russell is White at 86.0%. The next largest groups are Black (6.0%) and Two or More Races (2.9%). 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 Russell 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 Russell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White86.0% · 174,337
- Black or African American6.0% · 12,172
- Two or more races2.9% · 5,874
- Hispanic or Latino2.5% · 5,153
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.7% · 3,524
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 1,667
Gender
Gender distribution for Russell
Out of the 360,516 babies given the name Russell since 1880, 99.5% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Russell as a male name
- Ranked #367 in 2024
- 892 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1960 (7,482 births)
Russell as a female name
- Ranked #10,528 in 2004
- 10 female births in 2004
- Peak: 1920 (33 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Russell appears almost entirely male. Of the 202,735 people counted with this name, 99.8% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Russell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Russell from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 62,584 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Russell 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 Russell during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Russells live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Pennsylvania, New York recorded the most babies named Russell, while Alaska, Delaware, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 6,845 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Russell
The name Russell is an English given name of Norman French origin, derived from the Old Norman word "roussel" or "rossel," meaning "little red one" or "ruddy." This name dates back to the early medieval period, around the 11th century, when the Normans invaded and settled in parts of England and brought their naming traditions with them.
The name likely originated as a nickname or descriptive term for someone with reddish hair or a ruddy complexion. It was not uncommon for nicknames and descriptive terms to evolve into given names during this time period.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Russell can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of landholdings in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name appears as "Russel" in this document, referring to landowners or tenants.
In the 12th century, the name Russell gained prominence as a surname in England, particularly among noble and landowning families. One of the most notable historical figures with this name was Lord John Russell (1792-1878), a British Whig and Liberal politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1852 and from 1865 to 1866.
Another famous bearer of the name Russell was Bertrand Russell (1872-1970), a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, and Nobel laureate. He is widely regarded as one of the founders of analytic philosophy and made significant contributions to the field of logic and set theory.
In the realm of literature, Mary Russell is a fictional character created by American author Laurie R. King in her series of detective novels featuring Sherlock Holmes and his apprentice, Mary Russell. The first book in the series, "The Beekeeper's Apprentice," was published in 1994.
Other notable individuals with the name Russell include Bill Russell (1934-2022), an American professional basketball player who won 11 NBA championships with the Boston Celtics, and Kurt Russell (born 1951), an American actor known for roles in films like "Escape from New York," "Big Trouble in Little China," and "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2."
Throughout history, the name Russell has maintained its popularity, particularly in English-speaking countries, and has been associated with various historical figures, writers, philosophers, and celebrities, reflecting its enduring appeal and cultural significance.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Russell
People
Russell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Russell 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
Russell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Russell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 220,395 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Russell 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 1,555 US residents.
Is Russell a common name?
We classify Russell as "Common". It ranks above 99.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 360,516 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Russell most popular?
The single biggest year for Russell was 1960, when 7,505 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Russell is about 57 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Russell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 202,727 people with the name Russell, or 67.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #271 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 Russell 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 Russell?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Russell appears almost entirely male. Of the 202,735 people counted with this name, 99.8% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Russell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Russell is White at 86.0%. The next largest groups are Black (6.0%) and Two or More Races (2.9%). 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 Russell most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Russell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.0% (174,337 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 Russell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Russell a male name?
Yes, 99.5% of people registered as Russell 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 Russell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Russell 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 Russell 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 Russell?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.