Tremell
A variant of the French name Trémeau, of uncertain meaning.
Name Census estimates that about 579 living Americans carry the first name Tremell. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Tremell today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tremell births was 2011 (22 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tremell. 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.
People living today
579
~ 1 in 591,976 Americans
Peak year
2011
22 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2022 SSA rank
#9,745
Tracked since 1966
Census
Tremell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 448 people with the first name Tremell, which placed it at #22,278 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
#22,278
National first-name rank
People counted
448
448 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
95.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tremell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tremell is Black at 95.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (2.2%) and Hispanic (1.1%). 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 Tremell 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 Tremell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American95.8% · 429
- Two or more races2.2% · 10
- Hispanic or Latino1.1% · 5
- White0.7% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 1
Popularity
Tremell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tremell from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 138 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tremell 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 Tremell during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tremells live
Origin
Meaning and history of Tremell
The name Tremell has its origins in the ancient Celtic language of Brittonic, which was spoken in parts of what is now Great Britain and France during the Iron Age and Roman era. It is believed to be derived from the Proto-Celtic root "*tremel-," meaning "to cause to tremble" or "to shake." This suggests that the name may have originally been a descriptive nickname or title referring to a person's physical strength or imposing presence.
While the name's exact origins are obscure, there are records of similar variations appearing in early medieval texts and records from the British Isles. The name "Tremellius" appears in the Codex Theodosianus, a collection of Roman imperial decrees from the 5th century AD, suggesting that the name or its variants may have been in use among the Romano-British population of that period.
One of the earliest known individuals to bear a name related to Tremell was Tremellius, a Christian scholar and Hebrew professor who lived in the 16th century (1510-1580). He is best known for his Latin translation of the Bible, which he completed in collaboration with François du Jon.
Another notable figure with a similar name was Tremellus Pollio, a Roman historian and poet who lived in the 1st century BC. While little is known about his life, his name is recorded in the writings of ancient authors such as Quintilian and Pliny the Elder.
In the 17th century, there was a French Protestant theologian named Emmanuel Tremellius (1610-1680), who wrote extensively on biblical exegesis and was involved in the translation of the Geneva Bible.
Moving into the 19th century, we find Tremell Haynes (1805-1879), an American politician and lawyer who served as a judge in Mississippi and was involved in several important legal cases related to slavery and civil rights.
Finally, in the 20th century, there was Tremell Murphy (1910-1997), an American blues singer and guitarist from Mississippi, who was active in the Memphis blues scene and recorded several albums in the 1960s and 1970s.
While the name Tremell is not as common today as it may have been in the past, its history and origins showcase its linguistic and cultural connections to the ancient Celtic and Romano-British traditions, as well as its appearances in various religious, literary, and historical contexts over the centuries.
People
Tremell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tremell 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
Tremell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tremell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 579 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tremell 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 591,976 US residents.
Is Tremell a common name?
We classify Tremell as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 599 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tremell most popular?
The single biggest year for Tremell was 2011, when 22 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tremell is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tremell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 448 people with the name Tremell, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #22,278 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 Tremell 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 Tremell?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tremell leans strongly male. 446 people counted with this name were male (98.5%), compared with 7 female bearers (1.5%). 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 Tremell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tremell is Black at 95.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (2.2%) and Hispanic (1.1%). 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 Tremell most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Tremell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 95.8% (429 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 Tremell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tremell a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tremell 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 Tremell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tremell 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 Tremell 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 Americans are named Tremell?
Want to know how many people have the name Tremell? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.