Burnell
A variant of the Old French name Brunel, derived from brun ("brown").
Name Census estimates that about 1,332 living Americans carry the first name Burnell. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 82.5% of registrations being male. The average person named Burnell today is around 64 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Burnell births was 1920 (86 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Burnell. 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.
People living today
1.3K
~ 1 in 257,323 Americans
Peak year
1920
86 babies that year
Average age
64
years old
2022 SSA rank
#6,083
Tracked since 1906
Census
Burnell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,280 people with the first name Burnell, which placed it at #10,432 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
#10,432
National first-name rank
People counted
1.3K
1,280 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
51.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Burnell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Burnell is Black at 51.3%. The next largest groups are White (44.9%) and Two or More Races (1.6%). 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 Burnell 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 Burnell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American51.3% · 656
- White44.9% · 575
- Two or more races1.6% · 20
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 13
- Hispanic or Latino0.9% · 11
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 5
Gender
Gender distribution for Burnell
Burnell leans heavily male at 82.5% of total registrations, but 593 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Burnell as a male name
- Ranked #12,656 in 2022
- 5 male births in 2022
- Peak: 1920 (67 births)
Burnell as a female name
- Ranked #6,083 in 1964
- 6 female births in 1964
- Peak: 1943 (28 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Burnell leans strongly male. 1,077 people counted with this name were male (83.9%), compared with 207 female bearers (16.1%).
Popularity
Burnell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Burnell from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 735 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
Burnell 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 Burnell during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Burnells live
The SSA's state-level files cover 16 states and territories. Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Mississippi recorded the most babies named Burnell, while Nebraska, North Dakota, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 50 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Burnell
The name Burnell finds its roots in the Old English language, originating from the word "burna," which means a stream or a brook. This connection suggests that the name was initially associated with people who lived near a stream or a body of water. The name's earliest recorded use can be traced back to the 11th century in England.
During the Middle Ages, the name Burnell held some prominence, particularly in medieval England. One notable bearer of this name was Robert Burnell, who lived from around 1239 to 1292. He served as Lord Chancellor of England under King Edward I and played a significant role in the administration of the kingdom during that era.
In the 13th century, another individual named Burnell, Hugh Burnell, emerged as a prominent figure in the religious realm. He was a Franciscan friar and a renowned theologian who made significant contributions to the study of scholasticism during his lifetime.
Moving into the 16th century, the name Burnell gained further recognition with the birth of Henry Burnell in 1501. He was an English churchman who served as the Bishop of Bath and Wells from 1554 to 1564. Burnell played a notable role in the ecclesiastical affairs of his time.
In the realm of literature, the name Burnell finds mention in the works of Geoffrey Chaucer, the renowned English poet and author of the Canterbury Tales. One of the characters in Chaucer's works is referred to as "Burnell the Assyer," suggesting the name's usage during the late 14th century.
Another notable bearer of the name Burnell was Sir Thomas Burnell, an English judge and politician who lived from 1622 to 1688. He held the position of Chief Justice of the King's Bench and served as a Member of Parliament during the reign of King Charles II.
These are just a few examples of individuals who have carried the name Burnell throughout history, highlighting its enduring presence across various centuries and contexts, from religious and literary figures to prominent political and judicial figures.
People
Burnell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Burnell as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Burnell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Burnell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,332 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Burnell 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 257,323 US residents.
Is Burnell a common name?
We classify Burnell as "Rare". It ranks above 91.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,383 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Burnell most popular?
The single biggest year for Burnell was 1920, when 86 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Burnell 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 Burnell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,280 people with the name Burnell, or 0.42 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,432 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 Burnell 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 Burnell?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Burnell leans strongly male. 1,077 people counted with this name were male (83.9%), compared with 207 female bearers (16.1%). 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 Burnell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Burnell is Black at 51.3%. The next largest groups are White (44.9%) and Two or More Races (1.6%). 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 Burnell most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Burnell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 51.3% (656 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 Burnell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Burnell a male name?
Yes, 82.5% of people registered as Burnell 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 Burnell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Burnell 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 Burnell 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 Burnell?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.