Trevail
Uncommon English name possibly influenced by the French "travail" meaning work or effort.
Name Census estimates that about 6 living Americans carry the first name Trevail. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Trevail today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Trevail births was 1996 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Trevail. 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 Trevail. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
6
~ 1 in 57,125,723 Americans
Peak year
1996
6 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
1996 SSA rank
#8,932
Tracked since 1996
Popularity
Trevail: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Trevail 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 Trevail during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 6 | 0 | 6 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Trevail
The given name Trevail is a variant spelling of the French name Travail, which means "work" or "labor" in English. The name originated in medieval France during the 12th century, likely as a surname given to those who worked hard or engaged in manual labor.
Trevail was a relatively rare name in historical records, but it did appear in several texts from medieval Europe. One of the earliest recorded individuals with this name was Trevail de Montfort, a minor French nobleman who lived in the late 12th century. His name was mentioned in a local chronicle from the region of Picardy in northern France.
In the 13th century, a Benedictine monk named Trevail de Clairvaux was known for his writings on monastic life and spiritual disciplines. He was born in 1210 in the village of Clairvaux, France, and passed away in 1284 at the abbey where he lived and worked.
During the Renaissance period, a Italian artist named Trevail Fontana was active in the late 15th century. He was a painter and sculptor from the city of Cremona, known for his religious artworks commissioned by local churches and nobility.
In the 17th century, a French philosopher and writer named Trevail Descartes lived from 1596 to 1650. He was born in La Haye, France, and is remembered for his philosophical works, including the famous statement "I think, therefore I am" (Cogito, ergo sum).
Another notable figure with the name Trevail was an English soldier named Trevail Cromwell, who fought in the English Civil War during the mid-1600s. He was a distant relative of Oliver Cromwell and served as a captain in the Parliamentarian forces.
While not a common name, Trevail has appeared throughout history in various forms, often reflecting its origins as a French name associated with hard work and labor. Its use as a given name has been relatively rare, but it has been carried by individuals from diverse backgrounds, including nobility, religious figures, artists, philosophers, and soldiers.
People
Trevail + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Trevail as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with T
Other first names starting with T with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Trevail: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Trevail?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Trevail 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 57,125,723 US residents.
Is Trevail a common name?
We classify Trevail as "Very Rare". It ranks above 22.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Trevail most popular?
The single biggest year for Trevail was 1996, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Trevail is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Trevail in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Trevail a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Trevail 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 Trevail still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Trevail 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 Trevail 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people share the name Trevail?
You can see how many people have the name Trevail on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.