Lowell
From Old English origin meaning "little hill" or "wolf hill".
Name Census estimates that about 16,653 living Americans carry the first name Lowell. It is a predominantly male name (99.2% of registrations). The average person named Lowell today is around 67 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lowell births was 1931 (1,100 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lowell. 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 Lowell with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Lowell is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 352 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • The typical person named Lowell is about 67 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Lowells were born before 1969.
People living today
17K
~ 1 in 20,582 Americans
Peak year
1931
1,100 babies that year
Average age
67
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,735
Tracked since 1881
Census
Lowell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 18,467 people with the first name Lowell, which placed it at #1,681 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
#1,681
National first-name rank
People counted
18K
18,467 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
6.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
88.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lowell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lowell is White at 88.3%. The next largest groups are Black (5.7%) and Two or More Races (2.2%). 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 Lowell 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 Lowell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White88.3% · 16,314
- Black or African American5.7% · 1,047
- Two or more races2.2% · 406
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 331
- Hispanic or Latino1.3% · 234
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 135
Gender
Gender distribution for Lowell
Out of the 41,645 babies given the name Lowell since 1880, 99.2% 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.
Lowell as a male name
- Ranked #3,735 in 2024
- 30 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1931 (1,090 births)
Lowell as a female name
- Ranked #16,719 in 2021
- 5 female births in 2021
- Peak: 1917 (16 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lowell appears almost entirely male. Of the 18,468 people counted with this name, 99.1% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Lowell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lowell from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1930s, with 9,726 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1930s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lowell 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 Lowell during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lowells live
The SSA's state-level files cover 44 states and territories. Ohio, Illinois, Minnesota recorded the most babies named Lowell, while New Mexico, Connecticut, Arizona recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 821 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lowell
The name Lowell has its origins in the English language and can be traced back to the Middle Ages. It is derived from the Old English words "lo" meaning "hill" or "mound" and "well" meaning "spring" or "stream." Together, these words combine to form the meaning "one who lives near a spring on a hill."
In its earliest recorded use, the name appears in various forms such as "Lovel," "Lovell," and "Lovewell" in medieval English records and manuscripts. It was initially a surname that later transitioned into a given name.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Lowell was Sir Lovel Pounsard, a Norman knight who fought alongside William the Conqueror during the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. Another notable figure was Francis Lovelace, an English colonial officer who served as the governor of New York from 1668 to 1673.
The name gained further prominence in the 19th century with the rise of the American industrialist and philanthropist Lowell Mason (1792-1872), who is credited with introducing music instruction into public schools in the United States. Lowell, Massachusetts, a city known for its textile mills, was named after him.
Another famous bearer of the name was the American poet Robert Lowell (1917-1977), who was part of the confessional poetry movement and won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry twice. His works, such as "Life Studies" and "For the Union Dead," explored personal and historical themes.
In the realm of politics, Lowell Palmer Weicker Jr. (born 1931) is a former U.S. Senator and Governor of Connecticut, known for his independent and moderate stance on various issues. He played a pivotal role in the Watergate scandal investigation as a member of the Senate Watergate Committee.
Lowell George (1945-1979) was a significant figure in the rock music scene, best known as the founder and lead singer of the band Little Feat. His unique blend of rock, blues, and country music influenced many artists in the following decades.
These are just a few notable examples of individuals who have carried the name Lowell throughout history, each leaving their mark in their respective fields and contributing to the rich tapestry of cultural and historical significance associated with this name.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Lowell
People
Lowell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lowell 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
Lowell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lowell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 16,653 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lowell 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 20,582 US residents.
Is Lowell a common name?
We classify Lowell as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 41,645 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lowell most popular?
The single biggest year for Lowell was 1931, when 1,100 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lowell is about 67 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lowell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 18,467 people with the name Lowell, or 6.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,681 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 Lowell 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 Lowell?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lowell appears almost entirely male. Of the 18,468 people counted with this name, 99.1% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Lowell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lowell is White at 88.3%. The next largest groups are Black (5.7%) and Two or More Races (2.2%). 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 Lowell most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lowell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.3% (16,314 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 Lowell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lowell a male name?
Yes, 99.2% of people registered as Lowell 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 Lowell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lowell 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 Lowell 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 Lowell?
Find out how many people have the name Lowell on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.