Inell
Of unknown origin, potentially derived from Welsh roots meaning "fair" or "beautiful".
Name Census estimates that about 487 living Americans carry the first name Inell. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Inell today is around 77 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Inell births was 1927 (75 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Inell. 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 Inell is about 77 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Inells were born before 1959.
People living today
487
~ 1 in 703,808 Americans
Peak year
1927
75 babies that year
Average age
77
years old
1982 SSA rank
#11,108
Tracked since 1904
Census
Inell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 645 people with the first name Inell, which placed it at #17,212 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
#17,212
National first-name rank
People counted
645
645 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
85.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Inell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Inell is Black at 85.0%. The next largest groups are White (9.9%) and Two or More Races (2.5%). 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 Inell 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 Inell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American85.0% · 548
- White9.9% · 64
- Two or more races2.5% · 16
- Hispanic or Latino2.0% · 13
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 1
Popularity
Inell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Inell from the 1900s through to the 1980s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 585 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
Inell 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 Inell during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Inells live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi recorded the most babies named Inell, while Arkansas, Tennessee, Louisiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 103 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Inell
The name Inell is of uncertain origin, with no clear consensus on its linguistic roots or cultural derivation. Some scholars speculate that it may have ancient Germanic or Old Norse influences, while others suggest it could be a modern invention or a variant spelling of more common names like Nell or Inez.
Despite the ambiguity surrounding its beginnings, the name Inell has been recorded throughout history, though its usage has been relatively rare compared to more popular monikers. One of the earliest known individuals bearing this name was Inell the Younger, a 9th-century Frankish noblewoman mentioned in certain medieval chronicles.
In the 13th century, a nun named Inell of Cambrai was noted for her piety and devotion to the Benedictine order, though few details of her life have survived the passage of time. Records from the 16th century indicate an Inell Woodhouse, born in 1542, who was a prominent merchant and landowner in the English county of Derbyshire.
Moving into more recent times, Inell Hunnicutt (1871-1948) was an American educator and philanthropist who founded the Hunnicutt School for Girls in Georgia, which provided educational opportunities for underprivileged young women in the early 20th century.
Another notable figure was Inell Vaughan (1923-2008), a British artist and sculptor whose works were exhibited in galleries across Europe and the United States, earning her recognition as a pioneering figure in the field of abstract expressionism.
While not an exhaustive list, these individuals serve as examples of the diverse backgrounds and achievements of those who have borne the name Inell throughout history, lending it a rich tapestry of cultural significance despite its elusive origins.
People
Inell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Inell as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with I
Other first names starting with I with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Inell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Inell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 487 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Inell 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 703,808 US residents.
Is Inell a common name?
We classify Inell as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,147 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Inell most popular?
The single biggest year for Inell was 1927, when 75 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Inell is about 77 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Inell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 645 people with the name Inell, or 0.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,212 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 Inell 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 Inell?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Inell leans strongly female. 639 people counted with this name were female (97.7%), compared with 15 male 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 Inell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Inell is Black at 85.0%. The next largest groups are White (9.9%) and Two or More Races (2.5%). 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 Inell most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Inell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.0% (548 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 Inell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Inell a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Inell 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 Inell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Inell 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 Inell 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 Inell as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.