Terryl
A feminine form of the English name Terrance, ultimately derived from Latin.
Name Census estimates that about 1,071 living Americans carry the first name Terryl. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 50.8% of registrations being male. The average person named Terryl today is around 62 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Terryl births was 1949 (64 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Terryl. 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
- • Terryl sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
People living today
1.1K
~ 1 in 320,032 Americans
Peak year
1949
64 babies that year
Average age
62
years old
2008 SSA rank
#10,110
Tracked since 1935
Census
Terryl in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,304 people with the first name Terryl, which placed it at #10,290 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
#10,290
National first-name rank
People counted
1.3K
1,304 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
69.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Terryl
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Terryl is White at 69.3%. The next largest groups are Black (25.5%) and Two or More Races (2.6%). 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 Terryl 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 Terryl at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White69.3% · 904
- Black or African American25.5% · 333
- Two or more races2.6% · 34
- Hispanic or Latino1.7% · 22
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Terryl
Terryl is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 1,457 total registrations, 740 (50.8%) were male and 717 (49.2%) were female.
Terryl as a male name
- Ranked #12,387 in 2008
- 6 male births in 2008
- Peak: 1960 (26 births)
Terryl as a female name
- Ranked #10,110 in 1979
- 6 female births in 1979
- Peak: 1949 (39 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Terryl on both sides of the split. Of the 1,303 people counted with this name, 613 were male (47.0%) and 690 were female (53.0%).
Popularity
Terryl: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Terryl from the 1930s through to the 2000s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 424 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Terryl 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 Terryl during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Terryls live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. California, Louisiana, New York recorded the most babies named Terryl, while Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 14 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Terryl
The name Terryl is of English origin and can be traced back to the 12th century. It is believed to be derived from the Old English word "terrild," which means "to till the land." This suggests that the name may have initially been associated with those who worked in agriculture or were landowners.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Terryl can be found in the Domesday Book, a manuscript record of the great survey of England completed in 1086 by order of King William the Conqueror. The name appears as "Terrillius," which was likely the Latin variation of the name at the time.
In the 13th century, the name Terryl appeared in various historical records and documents, such as the Pipe Rolls of the Exchequer, which were financial records maintained by the English government. During this period, the name was often spelled as "Terryl" or "Terrill," indicating its evolution from the original Old English form.
While the name Terryl is not commonly associated with any specific religious texts or scriptures, it has been borne by several notable individuals throughout history. One of the earliest recorded figures with this name was Terryl of Shrewsbury, a 14th-century English landowner and nobleman who lived between 1320 and 1385.
Another prominent individual with the name Terryl was Sir Terryl Rawlins (1573-1642), an English soldier and politician who served as a Member of Parliament during the reign of King Charles I. He played a significant role in the English Civil War and was known for his support of the Parliamentarian cause.
In the 18th century, Terryl Townshend (1725-1811) was a British politician and nobleman who served as Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk and held various other positions within the British government. He was also a prominent figure in the social and cultural life of the time.
Moving into the 19th century, Terryl Browne (1819-1892) was an American businessman and philanthropist who made significant contributions to the development of the city of Cincinnati, Ohio. He was known for his involvement in various charitable organizations and his support for educational initiatives.
In the 20th century, Terryl Garvin (1901-1984) was an American baseball player who played for the Philadelphia Athletics and the Boston Red Sox in the 1920s and 1930s. He was known for his exceptional defensive skills as an outfielder and was part of the 1929 World Series championship team with the Philadelphia Athletics.
These are just a few examples of individuals throughout history who have borne the name Terryl, showcasing its enduring presence across various cultures and time periods.
People
Terryl + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Terryl as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with T
Other first names starting with T with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Terryl: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Terryl?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,071 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Terryl 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 320,032 US residents.
Is Terryl a common name?
We classify Terryl as "Rare". It ranks above 90.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,457 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Terryl most popular?
The single biggest year for Terryl was 1949, when 64 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Terryl 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 Terryl in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,304 people with the name Terryl, or 0.43 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,290 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 Terryl 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 Terryl?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Terryl on both sides of the split. Of the 1,303 people counted with this name, 613 were male (47.0%) and 690 were female (53.0%). 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 Terryl?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Terryl is White at 69.3%. The next largest groups are Black (25.5%) and Two or More Races (2.6%). 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 Terryl most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Terryl in the 2020 Census, accounting for 69.3% (904 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 Terryl in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Terryl a male name?
Yes, 50.8% of people registered as Terryl 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 Terryl still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Terryl 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 Terryl 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 named Terryl?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.