Shell
A moderately popular gender-neutral name derived from the hard protective casing enclosing mollusks.
Name Census estimates that about 258 living Americans carry the first name Shell. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 63.7% of registrations being female. The average person named Shell today is around 61 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shell births was 1963 (31 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shell. 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.
People living today
258
~ 1 in 1,328,505 Americans
Peak year
1963
31 babies that year
Average age
61
years old
1971 SSA rank
#4,832
Tracked since 1951
Census
Shell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 745 people with the first name Shell, which placed it at #15,443 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
#15,443
National first-name rank
People counted
745
745 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
57.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shell is White at 57.0%. The next largest groups are Black (26.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (7.0%). 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 Shell 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 Shell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White57.0% · 425
- Black or African American26.3% · 196
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.0% · 52
- Hispanic or Latino5.4% · 40
- Two or more races3.4% · 25
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 7
Gender
Gender distribution for Shell
Shell is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 311 total registrations, 113 (36.3%) were male and 198 (63.7%) were female.
Shell as a male name
- Ranked #4,832 in 1971
- 6 male births in 1971
- Peak: 1963 (16 births)
Shell as a female name
- Ranked #12,517 in 1986
- 5 female births in 1986
- Peak: 1965 (16 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Shell on both sides of the split. Of the 749 people counted with this name, 178 were male (23.8%) and 571 were female (76.2%).
Popularity
Shell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shell from the 1950s through to the 1980s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 191 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shell 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 Shell 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 Shell
The given name Shell is an English name derived from the word "shell," which refers to the hard protective outer casing of various animals and objects. This name likely originated in the late 19th or early 20th century when unique nature-inspired names became popular.
One of the earliest recorded instances of Shell as a given name dates back to the late 19th century. Shell Cornwell, an American singer and actress, was born in 1888 and performed on vaudeville stages in the early 1900s.
In the literary realm, Shell Silverstein, an American poet, cartoonist, and songwriter, was born in 1932. He is best known for his children's books, including "The Giving Tree" and "Where the Sidewalk Ends."
Shell Deftill, an American artist and sculptor, was born in 1938. She is renowned for her abstract metal sculptures and installations, many of which are displayed in public spaces and museums across the United States.
Shell Kepler, an American actress, was born in 1958. She has appeared in various television shows and films, including "General Hospital" and "The Green Mile."
Shell Danielson, an American football player, was born in 1967. He played as a defensive end in the National Football League (NFL) for several teams, including the Kansas City Chiefs and the Minnesota Vikings.
While the name Shell is not commonly found in ancient texts or religious scriptures, its connection to nature and the natural world may have contributed to its appeal as a given name. The unique and distinctive quality of the name has likely contributed to its enduring use throughout the 20th and 21st centuries.
People
Shell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shell 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
Shell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 258 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shell 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 1,328,505 US residents.
Is Shell a common name?
We classify Shell as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 311 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shell most popular?
The single biggest year for Shell was 1963, when 31 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shell is about 61 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 745 people with the name Shell, or 0.25 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,443 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 Shell 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 Shell?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Shell on both sides of the split. Of the 749 people counted with this name, 178 were male (23.8%) and 571 were female (76.2%). 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 Shell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shell is White at 57.0%. The next largest groups are Black (26.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (7.0%). 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 Shell most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Shell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.0% (425 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 Shell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shell a female name?
Yes, 63.7% of people registered as Shell 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 Shell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shell 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 Shell 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 common is the name Shell?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.