Cornel
A masculine name derived from the French word for "cornel tree".
Name Census estimates that about 903 living Americans carry the first name Cornel. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Cornel today is around 55 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cornel births was 1947 (59 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cornel. 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 Cornel with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
903
~ 1 in 379,573 Americans
Peak year
1947
59 babies that year
Average age
55
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,167
Tracked since 1919
Census
Cornel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,421 people with the first name Cornel, which placed it at #9,686 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
#9,686
National first-name rank
People counted
1.4K
1,421 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
47.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cornel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cornel is White at 47.1%. The next largest groups are Black (45.2%) and Two or More Races (2.7%). 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 Cornel 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 Cornel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White47.1% · 670
- Black or African American45.2% · 643
- Two or more races2.7% · 39
- Hispanic or Latino2.0% · 29
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 29
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 11
Popularity
Cornel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cornel from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 263 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cornel 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 Cornel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Cornels live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. California, Louisiana, Michigan recorded the most babies named Cornel, while Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 12 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Cornel
The name Cornel originates from the Latin language and is derived from the word "cornu," which means "horn." It is believed to have originated during the Roman Empire, where it may have been used as a nickname or a surname for someone with a prominent nose or a horn-like physical feature.
In ancient Roman texts and inscriptions, the name Cornel can be found as a cognomen, which was a third name given to individuals to distinguish them from others with the same first and second names. However, its earliest recorded use as a given name is not entirely clear.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Cornel was Cornelius Nepus, a Roman historian who lived during the 1st century BC. He is best known for his work "De Viris Illustribus" (On Illustrious Men), which contained biographies of famous Greek and Roman figures.
Another notable figure was Cornel of Brittany, a 6th-century Breton prince and saint who is venerated in the Catholic Church. He is known for founding the Abbey of Landerneau in Brittany, France, and for his missionary work in the region.
During the Middle Ages, the name Cornel was relatively uncommon but still appeared in various historical records and chronicles. One example is Cornel of Hesse, a 13th-century nobleman and military leader who fought in the Crusades and served as a regent of the Holy Roman Empire.
In the Renaissance period, the name gained popularity among European artists and intellectuals. Cornel Visscher, a Dutch engraver and printmaker from the 17th century, is known for his intricate and detailed works, including portraits of notable figures of his time.
Another prominent figure was Cornel Becker, a 17th-century Dutch Golden Age painter known for his still-life paintings and portraits. His works can be found in various museums and galleries across Europe.
In more recent history, the name Cornel has been less common but still carried by notable individuals. Cornel West, an American philosopher, political activist, and author born in 1953, is known for his work on race, gender, and class issues, as well as his contributions to the field of African-American studies.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Cornel
People
Cornel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cornel as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Cornel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cornel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 903 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cornel 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 379,573 US residents.
Is Cornel a common name?
We classify Cornel as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,174 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cornel most popular?
The single biggest year for Cornel was 1947, when 59 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cornel is about 55 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cornel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,421 people with the name Cornel, or 0.47 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,686 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 Cornel 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 Cornel?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cornel leans strongly male. 1,402 people counted with this name were male (98.5%), compared with 21 female bearers (1.5%). 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 Cornel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cornel is White at 47.1%. The next largest groups are Black (45.2%) and Two or More Races (2.7%). 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 Cornel most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Cornel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 47.1% (670 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 Cornel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cornel a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Cornel 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 Cornel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cornel 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 Cornel 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 share the name Cornel?
Find out how many people share the name Cornel on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.