Vernelle
A feminine name derived from the French vernale, meaning "of spring".
Name Census estimates that about 304 living Americans carry the first name Vernelle. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Vernelle today is around 75 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Vernelle births was 1924 (69 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Vernelle. 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
- • The typical person named Vernelle is about 75 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Vernelles were born before 1961.
People living today
304
~ 1 in 1,127,481 Americans
Peak year
1924
69 babies that year
Average age
75
years old
1933 SSA rank
#4,121
Tracked since 1904
Census
Vernelle in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 508 people with the first name Vernelle, which placed it at #20,360 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
#20,360
National first-name rank
People counted
508
508 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
50.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Vernelle
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vernelle is Black at 50.6%. The next largest groups are White (41.7%) and Two or More Races (2.8%). 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 Vernelle 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 Vernelle at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American50.6% · 257
- White41.7% · 212
- Two or more races2.8% · 14
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 9
- Hispanic or Latino1.6% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 8
Gender
Gender distribution for Vernelle
Out of the 1,250 babies given the name Vernelle since 1880, 99.6% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Vernelle as a male name
- Ranked #4,121 in 1933
- 5 male births in 1933
- Peak: 1933 (5 births)
Vernelle as a female name
- Ranked #8,732 in 1974
- 6 female births in 1974
- Peak: 1924 (69 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Vernelle leans strongly female. 467 people counted with this name were female (93.4%), compared with 33 male bearers (6.6%).
Popularity
Vernelle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Vernelle from the 1900s through to the 1970s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 397 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Vernelle 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 Vernelle during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Vernelles live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. Virginia, South Carolina, Texas recorded the most babies named Vernelle, while Georgia, North Carolina, Nebraska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 53 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Vernelle
The name Vernelle is believed to have originated from the French language, derived from the word "verne," meaning "alder tree." Its roots can be traced back to the medieval period, around the 12th century, when it was likely used as a surname in parts of France.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Vernelle can be found in the 13th-century French epic poem, "La Chanson de Roland," which tells the story of the Battle of Roncevaux Pass during the reign of Charlemagne. The name appears as a minor character, suggesting its usage during that time period.
In the 16th century, Vernelle Aubert, a French poet and translator, was born in Normandy. He is known for his translations of classical works into French, including Ovid's Metamorphoses. Aubert lived from 1508 to 1577.
Another notable figure with the name Vernelle was Vernelle Winfield, an American blues singer and guitarist from the early 20th century. Born in 1892 in Mississippi, Winfield was an influential figure in the development of the Delta blues genre. He passed away in 1968.
In the literary world, Vernelle Fulcher was an American author and journalist who published several books, including "The Ebony Tree" in 1950. She was born in 1916 and lived until 2005, making significant contributions to the Harlem Renaissance movement.
More recently, Vernelle A. Motlow was an American educator and civil rights activist from Tennessee. Born in 1947, she dedicated her life to promoting educational opportunities for underprivileged communities and was a prominent figure in the fight for racial equality.
While the name Vernelle has French origins, it has been adopted and used across various cultures throughout history, with each individual bearing the name leaving their own unique mark and legacy.
People
Vernelle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Vernelle 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
Vernelle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Vernelle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 304 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Vernelle 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 1,127,481 US residents.
Is Vernelle a common name?
We classify Vernelle as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,250 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Vernelle most popular?
The single biggest year for Vernelle was 1924, when 69 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Vernelle is about 75 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Vernelle in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 508 people with the name Vernelle, or 0.17 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,360 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 Vernelle 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 Vernelle?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Vernelle leans strongly female. 467 people counted with this name were female (93.4%), compared with 33 male bearers (6.6%). 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 Vernelle?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vernelle is Black at 50.6%. The next largest groups are White (41.7%) and Two or More Races (2.8%). 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 Vernelle most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Vernelle in the 2020 Census, accounting for 50.6% (257 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 Vernelle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Vernelle a female name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Vernelle 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 Vernelle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Vernelle 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 Vernelle 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 Vernelle?
Find out how many people have the name Vernelle on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.