Verdell
A masculine name with uncertain origins, potentially a derivative of "Verdelle" or "Verda".
Name Census estimates that about 1,474 living Americans carry the first name Verdell. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 60.9% of registrations being female. The average person named Verdell today is around 66 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Verdell births was 1935 (81 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Verdell. 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
- • Verdell was once a predominantly female name but has become increasingly popular for boys in recent decades.
- • Verdell sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
- • The typical person named Verdell is about 66 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Verdells were born before 1970.
People living today
1.5K
~ 1 in 232,533 Americans
Peak year
1935
81 babies that year
Average age
66
years old
2010 SSA rank
#12,270
Tracked since 1907
Census
Verdell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,428 people with the first name Verdell, which placed it at #9,647 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
#9,647
National first-name rank
People counted
1.4K
1,428 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
78.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Verdell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Verdell is Black at 78.2%. The next largest groups are White (14.8%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (3.4%). 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 Verdell 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 Verdell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American78.2% · 1,116
- White14.8% · 212
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.4% · 48
- Two or more races2.5% · 35
- Hispanic or Latino1.0% · 14
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.2% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Verdell
Verdell is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 3,425 total registrations, 1,340 (39.1%) were male and 2,085 (60.9%) were female.
Verdell as a male name
- Ranked #14,135 in 2010
- 5 male births in 2010
- Peak: 1942 (26 births)
Verdell as a female name
- Ranked #12,270 in 1982
- 5 female births in 1982
- Peak: 1932 (58 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Verdell on both sides of the split. Of the 1,431 people counted with this name, 606 were male (42.3%) and 825 were female (57.7%).
Popularity
Verdell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Verdell from the 1900s through to the 2010s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1930s, with 669 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1930s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Verdell 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 Verdell during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Verdells live
The SSA's state-level files cover 12 states and territories. Georgia, Alabama, Texas recorded the most babies named Verdell, while Iowa, California, Wisconsin recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 71 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Verdell
The name Verdell is believed to have originated from the Old English word "veor" meaning "far" or "distant". It is thought to have emerged as a surname in medieval England, possibly referring to someone who had traveled or lived far away.
In the 13th century, records show the name appearing as "Virdel" or "Verdel" as a surname in various parts of England, particularly in the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. Over time, it transitioned into being used as a masculine given name as well.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Verdell as a given name dates back to 1487, when a Verdell Smythe was mentioned in a parish register in the village of Aylsham, Norfolk. Another early example is found in the 1524 tax records of York, which list a Verdell Woodhouse as a landowner.
In the 16th and 17th centuries, the name gained some popularity among Puritan families in England, who favored biblical or virtue names with meanings related to distance or separation from worldly temptations.
A notable historical figure with the name Verdell was Verdell Prynne (1605-1669), a prominent English writer and Puritan leader who was imprisoned and had his ears cropped for publishing pamphlets critical of the Church of England.
Another early bearer of the name was Sir Verdell Calvert (1619-1675), an English politician and landowner who served as Governor of Maryland from 1661 to 1675.
In the 18th century, the name Verdell appeared in colonial America, with records showing a Verdell Jameson (1725-1798) among the early settlers of Virginia.
The 19th century saw the name spread to other parts of the English-speaking world, including Australia, where Verdell Fitzpatrick (1845-1923) was a prominent businessman and politician in New South Wales.
One of the most notable figures with the name Verdell in recent history was Verdell Mathis (1924-2008), an American blues musician and songwriter from Mississippi, known for his contributions to the Chicago blues scene.
While not as common today as it once was, the name Verdell has endured as a unique and distinctive choice, carrying echoes of its Old English roots and the adventurous spirit of those who first bore it.
People
Verdell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Verdell as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with V
Other first names starting with V with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Verdell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Verdell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,474 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Verdell 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 232,533 US residents.
Is Verdell a common name?
We classify Verdell as "Rare". It ranks above 92.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,425 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Verdell most popular?
The single biggest year for Verdell was 1935, when 81 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Verdell is about 66 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Verdell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,428 people with the name Verdell, or 0.47 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,647 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 Verdell 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 Verdell?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Verdell on both sides of the split. Of the 1,431 people counted with this name, 606 were male (42.3%) and 825 were female (57.7%). 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 Verdell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Verdell is Black at 78.2%. The next largest groups are White (14.8%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (3.4%). 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 Verdell most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Verdell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.2% (1,116 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 Verdell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Verdell a female name?
Yes, 60.9% of people registered as Verdell 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 Verdell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Verdell 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 Verdell 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 Verdell?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.