Novel
Originally a Latin term meaning "new, uncommon, or unusual".
Name Census estimates that about 32 living Americans carry the first name Novel. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 60.9% of registrations being male. The average person named Novel today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Novel births was 1924 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Novel. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Novel. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
32
~ 1 in 10,711,073 Americans
Peak year
1924
8 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,749
Tracked since 1916
Census
Novel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 227 people with the first name Novel, which placed it at #35,437 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
#35,437
National first-name rank
People counted
227
227 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
45.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Novel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Novel is Black at 45.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (18.5%) and White (16.3%). 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 Novel 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 Novel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American45.8% · 104
- Hispanic or Latino18.5% · 42
- White16.3% · 37
- Asian and Pacific Islander14.1% · 32
- Two or more races3.5% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Novel
Novel is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 87 total registrations, 53 (60.9%) were male and 34 (39.1%) were female.
Novel as a male name
- Ranked #13,625 in 2024
- 5 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1924 (8 births)
Novel as a female name
- Ranked #3,749 in 1938
- 7 female births in 1938
- Peak: 1938 (7 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Novel on both sides of the split. Of the 230 people counted with this name, 150 were male (65.2%) and 80 were female (34.8%).
Popularity
Novel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Novel from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 30 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Novel remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Novel 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 Novel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Novel
The given name Novel is derived from the Latin word "novellus", which means "new" or "young". It is believed to have originated in the late Middle Ages, around the 14th or 15th century, when the concept of novelty and innovation became more prominent in literature and art.
The name Novel was initially used as a descriptive term to refer to something new or unusual, rather than as a personal name. It gained popularity as a first name during the Renaissance period, when the pursuit of knowledge and creativity was celebrated.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Novel can be found in the writings of the Italian humanist scholar, Petrarch (1304-1374). He used the term "novella" to describe a new form of short prose fiction that he pioneered.
In the 16th century, the French writer, Marguerite de Navarre (1492-1549), published a collection of short stories titled "Heptameron", which included tales with novel and innovative themes for that time.
The name Novel gained further recognition in the 17th century with the rise of the novel as a literary genre. Writers such as Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616), the author of "Don Quixote", and Aphra Behn (1640-1689), one of the earliest English novelists, contributed to the popularization of the term "novel" and its association with new and imaginative works of fiction.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the first name Novel was the English poet and playwright, Novel Prentis (1597-1672), who lived during the reign of King Charles I.
Another notable figure with the name Novel was the French philosopher and mathematician, Novel Morin (1623-1662), who made significant contributions to the field of astronomy and astrology.
In the 18th century, the English writer and critic, Novel Felton (1719-1779), gained recognition for his essays and literary critiques, further solidifying the association between the name Novel and the world of literature and creativity.
The 19th century saw the birth of Novel Tyler (1824-1895), an American educator and author who wrote extensively on the importance of early childhood education and women's rights.
More recently, the American writer and journalist, Novel Adams (1920-2005), gained recognition for her work as a war correspondent during World War II and her coverage of the civil rights movement in the United States.
People
Novel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Novel as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Novel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Novel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 32 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Novel 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 10,711,073 US residents.
Is Novel a common name?
We classify Novel as "Very Rare". It ranks above 47.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 87 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Novel most popular?
The single biggest year for Novel was 1924, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Novel is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Novel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 227 people with the name Novel, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #35,437 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 Novel 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 Novel?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Novel on both sides of the split. Of the 230 people counted with this name, 150 were male (65.2%) and 80 were female (34.8%). 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 Novel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Novel is Black at 45.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (18.5%) and White (16.3%). 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 Novel most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Novel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 45.8% (104 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 Novel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Novel a male name?
Yes, 60.9% of people registered as Novel 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 Novel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Novel 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 Novel 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 Novel as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.