Ansel
A masculine given name of Germanic origin meaning "divine protector".
Name Census estimates that about 3,430 living Americans carry the first name Ansel. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Ansel today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ansel births was 2018 (171 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ansel. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Ansel with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
3.4K
~ 1 in 99,928 Americans
Peak year
2018
171 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,285
Tracked since 1882
Census
Ansel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,841 people with the first name Ansel, which placed it at #5,845 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
#5,845
National first-name rank
People counted
2.8K
2,841 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
57.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ansel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ansel is White at 57.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.6%) and Black (12.4%). 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 Ansel 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 Ansel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White57.7% · 1,640
- Hispanic or Latino13.6% · 387
- Black or African American12.4% · 353
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.9% · 225
- Two or more races7.7% · 219
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 17
Gender
Gender distribution for Ansel
Out of the 4,624 babies given the name Ansel since 1880, 99.8% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Ansel as a male name
- Ranked #1,285 in 2024
- 152 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2018 (171 births)
Ansel as a female name
- Ranked #16,496 in 2016
- 5 female births in 2016
- Peak: 1918 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ansel leans strongly male. 2,775 people counted with this name were male (97.7%), compared with 65 female bearers (2.3%).
Popularity
Ansel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ansel from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,209 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Ansel remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ansel 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 Ansel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ansels live
The SSA's state-level files cover 25 states and territories. California, South Carolina, New York recorded the most babies named Ansel, while Montana, Kentucky, North Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 68 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ansel
The name Ansel has its origins in the Germanic languages, specifically Old English and Old German. It is derived from the root word "ans," which means "divine favor" or "divine protection." This root word is also found in the name "Ansgar," which means "divine spear."
In the early Middle Ages, the name Ansel was most commonly used in areas of present-day Germany, the Netherlands, and northern France. It is believed to have emerged as a given name in the 8th or 9th century, although its exact origins are not entirely clear.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Ansel was Ansel of Burgundy, a Frankish nobleman who lived in the 9th century. He was the son of Count Eccard of Burgundy and is mentioned in various historical records from that time period.
Another notable figure with the name Ansel was Ansel of Lucca, an Italian philosopher and theologian who lived from around 1036 to 1086. He was a prominent figure in the intellectual circles of his time and wrote extensively on topics such as ethics and metaphysics.
In the 12th century, Ansel of Canterbury was an English monk and historian who served as the prior of the monastery at Canterbury. He is best known for his chronicles, which provide valuable insights into the history of medieval England.
During the Renaissance period, Ansel Feuerbach (1829-1880) was a German painter and one of the leading figures of the German Romantic movement. His works, such as "The Concert" and "The Iphigenia," are celebrated for their emotional depth and technical mastery.
In more recent times, Ansel Adams (1902-1984) was an American photographer renowned for his striking black-and-white photographs of the American West, particularly the Yosemite National Park. His work had a profound impact on the art of photography and has been widely celebrated and exhibited around the world.
People
Ansel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ansel as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ansel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ansel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,430 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ansel 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 99,928 US residents.
Is Ansel a common name?
We classify Ansel as "Rare". It ranks above 95.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,624 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ansel most popular?
The single biggest year for Ansel was 2018, when 171 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ansel is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ansel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,841 people with the name Ansel, or 0.94 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,845 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 Ansel 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 Ansel?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ansel leans strongly male. 2,775 people counted with this name were male (97.7%), compared with 65 female bearers (2.3%). 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 Ansel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ansel is White at 57.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.6%) and Black (12.4%). 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 Ansel most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ansel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.7% (1,640 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 Ansel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ansel a male name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Ansel 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 Ansel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ansel 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 Ansel 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 Ansel?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Ansel at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.