Humanverse

Johnell

Johnell reached its high-water mark in 1990 at number 2,488, and has been recorded 1,594 times in all. It is given to both boys and girls. In 2025 it ranked 12,008th. About 1,300 Johnells are alive in the United States today, and half of them are over 44.

Popularity, 1880–2025

Births per year, 1880 to 2025 0 8 16 24 32 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

girls named Johnell boys named Johnell

Girls and boys called Johnell

Share of the name given to girls, 1880 to 2025 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

years more girls than boys years more boys than girls

Both, throughout, without either side ever taking it over: 355 girls and 1,239 boys in all, and in 1991 the split was 9 to 25.

The girls’ share of each year’s babies of the name, in the 15 years in which at least 25 babies got it. The line touches the middle more often than there are crossings marked: a year or two on the other side is not a name changing hands, and only a move that holds for 5 counted years and reaches 60/40 is recorded as one. All 581 names that changed sex.

By the numbers

Total US births
1,594
Estimated living today
1,300
Median age today
44
Peak year
1990
Best rank
2,488th
Rank in 2025
12,008th
First recorded
1925
Girls / boys
355 / 1,239

How old the living Johnells are

Born with the name each year, and how many of them are alive today, 1880 to 2025 0 10 20 30 40 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

born that year still alive today

Of the 1,594 babies given the name since 1925, about 1,300 are alive — 83 in every hundred. The dotted line is the median: half were born before 1981 and half after.

An estimate, not a count. SSA births aged forward through SSA cohort life tables, which know nothing about who left the country or arrived in it — so for a name that mostly came to America rather than being born in it, this is a floor rather than a figure. Where you fall among living Americans.

Where Johnell is most common

Relative to how many babies each state records, Johnell is most concentrated in Louisiana (43.9×).

Total births recorded in each state since 1910. Browse names by state.

Names of 1990

The most popular boys’ names the year Johnell peaked:

All the names of 1990

Related names

Johnell against another name

Two names on one chart, with the year one overtook the other.

Compare Johnell with a name of your own

Try it on yourself

Source: US Social Security Administration, national and state baby-name files, 1880–2025. Counts include only births registered with the SSA, and names with fewer than five births in a year are not published. The living estimate applies SSA cohort life tables to those births; it counts people born in the United States, so it misses anyone who arrived later and anyone who has left.