Vernell
A feminine name of uncertain origin and meaning, potentially from Latin/French vernalis meaning "of spring".
Name Census estimates that about 4,713 living Americans carry the first name Vernell. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 68.1% of registrations being female. The average person named Vernell today is around 64 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Vernell births was 1935 (215 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Vernell. 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
- • Vernell was once a predominantly female name but has become increasingly popular for boys in recent decades.
People living today
4.7K
~ 1 in 72,725 Americans
Peak year
1935
215 babies that year
Average age
64
years old
2021 SSA rank
#12,045
Tracked since 1897
Census
Vernell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,485 people with the first name Vernell, which placed it at #4,238 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
#4,238
National first-name rank
People counted
4.5K
4,485 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
79.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Vernell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vernell is Black at 79.3%. The next largest groups are White (15.7%) and Two or More Races (2.2%). 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 Vernell 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 Vernell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American79.3% · 3,556
- White15.7% · 702
- Two or more races2.2% · 97
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 61
- Hispanic or Latino1.3% · 58
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.2% · 11
Gender
Gender distribution for Vernell
Vernell is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 10,468 total registrations, 3,344 (31.9%) were male and 7,124 (68.1%) were female.
Vernell as a male name
- Ranked #12,045 in 2021
- 6 male births in 2021
- Peak: 1954 (67 births)
Vernell as a female name
- Ranked #16,844 in 1999
- 5 female births in 1999
- Peak: 1924 (178 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Vernell on both sides of the split. Of the 4,484 people counted with this name, 1,575 were male (35.1%) and 2,909 were female (64.9%).
Popularity
Vernell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Vernell from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1930s, with 1,950 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
Vernell 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 Vernell during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Vernells live
The SSA's state-level files cover 25 states and territories. Texas, South Carolina, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Vernell, while Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 237 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Vernell
The name Vernell has its origins in the Germanic languages and is believed to have been derived from the Old High German word "werinhart," which means "brave one." This name was initially popular among the Frankish and Alemannic tribes of central and western Europe during the Middle Ages.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Vernell can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus, a collection of historical documents from the Benedictine monastery of St. Gallen in modern-day Switzerland. This codex includes a record from the 9th century, mentioning a man named Vernell who was a landowner in the region.
In the 11th century, a monk named Vernell is mentioned in the chronicles of the Benedictine abbey of Cluny in France. He is described as a skilled scribe who transcribed numerous manuscripts for the abbey's library.
During the Crusades, a knight named Vernell de Montfort fought alongside Richard the Lionheart in the Third Crusade (1189-1192). He is recorded as having participated in the siege of Acre and the Battle of Arsuf.
In the 14th century, Vernell de Viguerie was a renowned troubadour from the region of Provence in southern France. His poems and songs were widely celebrated during his lifetime, and some of his works have been preserved in various medieval manuscripts.
Another notable figure with the name Vernell was a Dutch merchant and explorer named Vernell van der Linden (1625-1677). He is credited with establishing trade routes and settlements in the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia) during the 17th century.
While the name Vernell was more commonly used in medieval Europe, it has also found its way into other cultures and languages over time. However, its origins can be traced back to the Germanic roots mentioned earlier.
People
Vernell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Vernell 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
Vernell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Vernell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,713 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Vernell 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 72,725 US residents.
Is Vernell a common name?
We classify Vernell as "Rare". It ranks above 96.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 10,468 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Vernell most popular?
The single biggest year for Vernell was 1935, when 215 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Vernell is about 64 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Vernell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,485 people with the name Vernell, or 1.48 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,238 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 Vernell 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 Vernell?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Vernell on both sides of the split. Of the 4,484 people counted with this name, 1,575 were male (35.1%) and 2,909 were female (64.9%). 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 Vernell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vernell is Black at 79.3%. The next largest groups are White (15.7%) and Two or More Races (2.2%). 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 Vernell most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Vernell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.3% (3,556 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 Vernell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Vernell a female name?
Yes, 68.1% of people registered as Vernell 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 Vernell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Vernell 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 Vernell 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 Vernell as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.