Mozell
A feminine name of unknown origin, possibly a variant of Moselle.
Name Census estimates that about 611 living Americans carry the first name Mozell. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 86.3% of registrations being female. The average person named Mozell today is around 76 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mozell births was 1922 (132 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mozell. 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 Mozell is about 76 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Mozells were born before 1960.
People living today
611
~ 1 in 560,973 Americans
Peak year
1922
132 babies that year
Average age
76
years old
2005 SSA rank
#11,040
Tracked since 1891
Census
Mozell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 718 people with the first name Mozell, which placed it at #15,879 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
#15,879
National first-name rank
People counted
718
718 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
82.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mozell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mozell is Black at 82.5%. The next largest groups are White (12.3%) and Two or More Races (3.3%). 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 Mozell 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 Mozell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American82.5% · 592
- White12.3% · 88
- Two or more races3.3% · 24
- Hispanic or Latino1.3% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 5
Gender
Gender distribution for Mozell
Mozell leans heavily female at 86.3% of total registrations, but 484 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Mozell as a male name
- Ranked #11,040 in 2005
- 6 male births in 2005
- Peak: 1927 (16 births)
Mozell as a female name
- Ranked #13,876 in 1999
- 6 female births in 1999
- Peak: 1925 (121 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Mozell on both sides of the split. Of the 724 people counted with this name, 199 were male (27.5%) and 525 were female (72.5%).
Popularity
Mozell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mozell from the 1890s through to the 2000s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 1,055 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
Mozell 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 Mozell during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mozells live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. Georgia, Texas, Alabama recorded the most babies named Mozell, while Florida, Virginia, Tennessee recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 179 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Mozell
The given name Mozell is a relatively uncommon first name of uncertain origin. It may have derived from the French word "moiselle," which was a female variant of the word "monsieur" used in the 17th and 18th centuries. This term was sometimes shortened to "moz'elle" in informal contexts, which could have evolved into the name Mozell over time.
Another theory suggests that Mozell may have roots in the Germanic language family, potentially stemming from a combination of the Old High German words "muozan" (meaning "to be able") and "selli" (meaning "good" or "blessed"). This would give the name a connotation of being capable or fortunate.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Mozell date back to the late 19th century in the United States. One of the earliest known individuals with this first name was Mozell Booker, an African American schoolteacher and community leader from Mississippi, born in 1884.
Another notable figure was Mozell Hill, an American blues singer and songwriter active in the 1920s and 1930s. Her recordings, such as "Whoopee Blues" and "Ain't Gonna Be No Monkey Man," were influential in the development of early blues music.
In the realm of literature, Mozell Sawyer was an American writer and educator born in 1900. She authored several books, including the novel "The Rosanna" and the short story collection "The Burning of Atlanta."
Moving to the field of sports, Mozell Towe was an American basketball player who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in the 1940s. She was inducted into the league's Players' Association Hall of Fame in 1998.
Lastly, Mozell Cofer was an American gospel singer and songwriter active in the mid-20th century. She was known for her collaborations with notable gospel groups and her contributions to the genre's development.
While the name Mozell remains relatively uncommon, these individuals and their accomplishments have contributed to its recognition throughout history.
People
Mozell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mozell as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Mozell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mozell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 611 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mozell 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 560,973 US residents.
Is Mozell a common name?
We classify Mozell as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,534 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mozell most popular?
The single biggest year for Mozell was 1922, when 132 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mozell is about 76 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mozell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 718 people with the name Mozell, or 0.24 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,879 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 Mozell 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 Mozell?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Mozell on both sides of the split. Of the 724 people counted with this name, 199 were male (27.5%) and 525 were female (72.5%). 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 Mozell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mozell is Black at 82.5%. The next largest groups are White (12.3%) and Two or More Races (3.3%). 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 Mozell most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Mozell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.5% (592 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 Mozell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mozell a female name?
Yes, 86.3% of people registered as Mozell 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 Mozell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mozell 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 Mozell 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 Mozell?
Find out how many people have the name Mozell on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.