Lorell
A feminine French given name of unknown meaning or origin.
Name Census estimates that about 160 living Americans carry the first name Lorell. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 87.9% of registrations being female. The average person named Lorell today is around 62 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lorell births was 1921 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lorell. 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 Lorell with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
160
~ 1 in 2,142,215 Americans
Peak year
1921
17 babies that year
Average age
62
years old
1971 SSA rank
#5,362
Tracked since 1914
Census
Lorell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 391 people with the first name Lorell, which placed it at #24,576 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
#24,576
National first-name rank
People counted
391
391 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
46.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lorell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lorell is White at 46.0%. The next largest groups are Black (35.0%) and Hispanic (13.0%). 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 Lorell 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 Lorell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White46.0% · 180
- Black or African American35.0% · 137
- Hispanic or Latino13.0% · 51
- Two or more races4.3% · 17
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 2
Gender
Gender distribution for Lorell
Lorell leans heavily female at 87.9% of total registrations, but 42 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Lorell as a male name
- Ranked #5,362 in 1971
- 5 male births in 1971
- Peak: 1921 (6 births)
Lorell as a female name
- Ranked #12,674 in 1992
- 6 female births in 1992
- Peak: 1920 (12 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Lorell on both sides of the split. Of the 389 people counted with this name, 96 were male (24.7%) and 293 were female (75.3%).
Popularity
Lorell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lorell from the 1910s through to the 1990s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 68 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
Lorell 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 Lorell during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lorells live
Origin
Meaning and history of Lorell
The name Lorell is believed to have its origins in the Old German language, derived from the elements "lora," meaning "laurel," and "hild," meaning "battle." It is thought to have emerged during the medieval period in central Europe, particularly in regions with strong Germanic cultural influences.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Lorell can be found in the Codex Manesse, a 14th-century German manuscript containing works of Middle High German poetry. In this text, a minor noblewoman named Lorell von Hohenstein is mentioned as a patron of the arts and literature.
During the Renaissance, the name Lorell gained some popularity among the upper classes in parts of Germany and the Low Countries. Notable individuals bearing this name include Lorell von Bredow (1520-1588), a Prussian military commander who fought in the Schmalkaldic War, and Lorell Falkenstein (1564-1628), a German artist renowned for her intricate woodcarvings.
In the 17th century, the name Lorell made its way to the British Isles, likely through cultural exchange and migration. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name in England is Lorell Pemberton (1635-1701), a wealthy landowner and member of the gentry in Yorkshire.
During the Enlightenment period, the name Lorell gained some traction among intellectual and artistic circles in Europe. Lorell Delacroix (1718-1783), a French philosopher and writer, was a prominent figure in the salons of Paris, known for her witty repartee and critical essays on the societal norms of the time.
As the centuries progressed, the name Lorell remained relatively uncommon but maintained a presence in various European countries. In the 19th century, Lorell Hoffmann (1829-1891), a German botanist and explorer, gained recognition for her extensive collection of plant specimens from the Amazon rainforest.
These examples illustrate the rich history and diverse cultural influences that have shaped the name Lorell over the centuries, spanning various regions, social classes, and fields of endeavor.
People
Lorell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lorell as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with L
Other first names starting with L with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Lorell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lorell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 160 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lorell 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 2,142,215 US residents.
Is Lorell a common name?
We classify Lorell as "Very Rare". It ranks above 71.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 347 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lorell most popular?
The single biggest year for Lorell was 1921, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lorell is about 62 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lorell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 391 people with the name Lorell, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #24,576 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 Lorell 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 Lorell?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Lorell on both sides of the split. Of the 389 people counted with this name, 96 were male (24.7%) and 293 were female (75.3%). 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 Lorell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lorell is White at 46.0%. The next largest groups are Black (35.0%) and Hispanic (13.0%). 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 Lorell most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lorell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 46.0% (180 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 Lorell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lorell a female name?
Yes, 87.9% of people registered as Lorell 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 Lorell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lorell 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 Lorell 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 are called Lorell?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.