Rachell
Of Hebrew origin, meaning "ewe" or "female sheep".
Name Census estimates that about 3,525 living Americans carry the first name Rachell. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Rachell today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rachell births was 1982 (99 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rachell. 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 Rachell with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
3.5K
~ 1 in 97,235 Americans
Peak year
1982
99 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,481
Tracked since 1915
Census
Rachell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,184 people with the first name Rachell, which placed it at #5,406 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
#5,406
National first-name rank
People counted
3.2K
3,184 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
47.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rachell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rachell is White at 47.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (26.9%) and Black (18.0%). 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 Rachell 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 Rachell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White47.0% · 1,496
- Hispanic or Latino26.9% · 857
- Black or African American18.0% · 573
- Two or more races3.8% · 122
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.6% · 114
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 22
Popularity
Rachell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rachell from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 886 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rachell 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 Rachell during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rachells live
The SSA's state-level files cover 19 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Rachell, while Wisconsin, Washington, Oregon recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 65 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rachell
The name Rachell is derived from the Hebrew name Rachel, which originated in ancient Israel in the Middle East. Rachel was a biblical figure in the Old Testament, described as the favored wife of Jacob and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin. The name Rachel means "ewe" or "female sheep" in Hebrew, symbolizing fertility and nurturing.
The name Rachel can be traced back to the Book of Genesis in the Bible, where she is mentioned as one of the matriarchs of the Israelites. Her story is significant in the narrative of the Israelites' journey and the establishment of the twelve tribes of Israel. Rachel's name has been popular among Jewish communities for centuries, reflecting its deep religious and cultural roots.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Rachel was found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, a collection of ancient Jewish religious manuscripts dating back to the third century BCE. The name Rachel was also mentioned in various ancient Hebrew texts and inscriptions, indicating its widespread use in ancient Israelite society.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Rachel or its variants. One of the most famous was Rachel, the wife of the Roman emperor Tiberius, who lived from around 28 BCE to 10 CE. Another notable Rachel was Rachel de Varnhagen, a German writer and salonnière who lived from 1771 to 1833 and hosted a prominent literary salon in Berlin.
In the realm of literature, Rachel is the name of the central character in Samuel Richardson's novel "Clarissa, or, The History of a Young Lady," published in 1748. This work is considered one of the earliest and most influential novels in the English language.
The name Rachel also has historical significance in the world of art. Rachel Ruysch, a Dutch artist who lived from 1664 to 1750, was renowned for her stunning still-life paintings featuring intricate arrangements of flowers and insects.
Another notable figure was Rachel Jackson, the wife of the seventh President of the United States, Andrew Jackson. Born in 1767, she played a significant role in her husband's political career and was a prominent figure in her own right.
People
Rachell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rachell as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with R
Other first names starting with R with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Rachell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rachell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,525 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rachell 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 97,235 US residents.
Is Rachell a common name?
We classify Rachell as "Rare". It ranks above 95.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,946 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rachell most popular?
The single biggest year for Rachell was 1982, when 99 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rachell is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rachell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,184 people with the name Rachell, or 1.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,406 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 Rachell 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 Rachell?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rachell appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,184 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Rachell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rachell is White at 47.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (26.9%) and Black (18.0%). 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 Rachell most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Rachell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 47.0% (1,496 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 Rachell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rachell a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Rachell 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 Rachell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rachell 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 Rachell 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 Rachell?
Find out how many Americans are named Rachell on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.