Samuell
A masculine name derived from Hebrew, meaning "name of God" or "listened by God".
Name Census estimates that about 181 living Americans carry the first name Samuell. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Samuell today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Samuell births was 1999 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Samuell. 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 Samuell with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
181
~ 1 in 1,893,670 Americans
Peak year
1999
11 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,682
Tracked since 1919
Census
Samuell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 214 people with the first name Samuell, which placed it at #36,840 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
#36,840
National first-name rank
People counted
214
214 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
47.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Samuell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Samuell is White at 47.2%. The next largest groups are Black (25.7%) and Hispanic (23.4%). 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 Samuell 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 Samuell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White47.2% · 101
- Black or African American25.7% · 55
- Hispanic or Latino23.4% · 50
- Two or more races3.7% · 8
Popularity
Samuell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Samuell from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 64 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Samuell 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 Samuell during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Samuells live
Origin
Meaning and history of Samuell
The given name Samuell has its origins in the Hebrew language and culture, originating from the biblical name Samuel. The name is derived from the Hebrew words "shem'u'el," which mean "name of God" or "God has heard."
The name Samuel first appears in the Old Testament of the Bible, where Samuel was a prominent prophet and judge in ancient Israel. He is considered one of the most important figures in the transition from the period of the biblical judges to the establishment of the monarchy in Israel.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Samuel can be found in the Book of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible, which dates back to around the 11th century BCE. This book recounts the life and deeds of the prophet Samuel and his anointing of the first two kings of Israel, Saul and David.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Samuel or its variations, including:
1. Samuel the Prophet (c. 1070 BCE - c. 1012 BCE), a prominent figure in the Hebrew Bible known for his role in the establishment of the Israelite monarchy.
2. Samuel Pepys (1633 - 1703), an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament, best known for his extensive diaries that provide a vivid account of life in 17th-century London.
3. Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784), an English writer, poet, and one of the most influential literary figures of the 18th century, best known for his Dictionary of the English Language.
4. Samuel Morse (1791 - 1872), an American inventor and painter, renowned for his development of the Morse code and the telegraph system.
5. Samuel Clemens (1835 - 1910), better known by his pen name Mark Twain, a celebrated American writer, humorist, and novelist, author of classics such as "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer."
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have carried the name Samuel or its variations throughout history, spanning different cultures, time periods, and fields of expertise.
People
Samuell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Samuell as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Samuell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Samuell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 181 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Samuell 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 1,893,670 US residents.
Is Samuell a common name?
We classify Samuell as "Very Rare". It ranks above 72.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 201 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Samuell most popular?
The single biggest year for Samuell was 1999, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Samuell is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Samuell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 214 people with the name Samuell, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #36,840 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 Samuell 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 Samuell?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Samuell leans strongly male. 222 people counted with this name were male (98.7%), compared with 3 female bearers (1.3%). 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 Samuell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Samuell is White at 47.2%. The next largest groups are Black (25.7%) and Hispanic (23.4%). 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 Samuell most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Samuell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 47.2% (101 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 Samuell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Samuell a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Samuell 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 Samuell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Samuell 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 Samuell 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 Samuell as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Samuell, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.