Bell
Bell was given to 8 girls in 2025, #11,093 among girls’ names; 2,626 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Bell by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Bell mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Bell is “a female given name, variant of Belle; mostly used as a middle name in the 19th century.”
Also “a male given name transferred from the surname, of occasional usage.”
/bɛl/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Bell?
#11,093 among girls’ names, 2025
Bell rose from #13,211 in 2015 to #11,093 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 3.9 to 5.0 per million.
63 babies in 1900, the peak
Bell peaked in 1900, when 63 girls were given it, #423 among girls’ names. The 8 births of 2025 are 13% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 8 | #11,093 | under 0.01 |
| 2024 | 6 | #13,732 | under 0.01 |
| 2023 | 7 | #12,358 | under 0.01 |
| 2022 | 8 | #11,375 | under 0.01 |
| 2021 | 7 | #12,412 | under 0.01 |
| 2020 | 7 | #12,350 | under 0.01 |
| 2018 | 14 | #7,814 | 0.01 |
| 2017 | 10 | #10,075 | 0.01 |
| 2015 | 7 | #13,211 | under 0.01 |
| 2014 | 9 | #11,116 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (99)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 5 | #16,951 | under 0.01 |
| 2012 | 5 | #17,293 | under 0.01 |
| 2011 | 6 | #15,116 | under 0.01 |
| 2010 | 8 | #12,447 | under 0.01 |
| 2009 | 8 | #12,609 | under 0.01 |
| 2008 | 5 | #17,938 | under 0.01 |
| 2006 | 7 | #13,798 | under 0.01 |
| 1973 | 5 | #8,533 | under 0.01 |
| 1970 | 6 | #7,131 | under 0.01 |
| 1967 | 5 | #6,889 | under 0.01 |
| 1961 | 7 | #5,338 | under 0.01 |
| 1960 | 6 | #5,753 | under 0.01 |
| 1959 | 7 | #5,071 | under 0.01 |
| 1958 | 7 | #4,933 | under 0.01 |
| 1956 | 8 | #4,488 | under 0.01 |
| 1955 | 5 | #5,892 | under 0.01 |
| 1954 | 5 | #5,806 | under 0.01 |
| 1952 | 8 | #4,150 | under 0.01 |
| 1951 | 6 | #4,883 | under 0.01 |
| 1949 | 8 | #3,918 | under 0.01 |
| 1948 | 5 | #5,298 | under 0.01 |
| 1947 | 8 | #4,027 | under 0.01 |
| 1946 | 6 | #4,468 | under 0.01 |
| 1945 | 8 | #3,407 | 0.01 |
| 1944 | 5 | #4,622 | under 0.01 |
| 1943 | 5 | #4,746 | under 0.01 |
| 1942 | 14 | #2,423 | 0.01 |
| 1941 | 12 | #2,544 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 13 | #2,310 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 12 | #2,434 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 15 | #2,120 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 9 | #2,961 | 0.01 |
| 1936 | 16 | #1,956 | 0.02 |
| 1935 | 7 | #3,451 | 0.01 |
| 1934 | 15 | #2,096 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 7 | #3,438 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 12 | #2,505 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 10 | #2,771 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 22 | #1,707 | 0.02 |
| 1929 | 17 | #2,014 | 0.02 |
| 1928 | 20 | #1,906 | 0.02 |
| 1927 | 21 | #1,890 | 0.02 |
| 1926 | 28 | #1,546 | 0.02 |
| 1925 | 34 | #1,380 | 0.03 |
| 1924 | 33 | #1,444 | 0.03 |
| 1923 | 31 | #1,468 | 0.03 |
| 1922 | 28 | #1,580 | 0.02 |
| 1921 | 36 | #1,304 | 0.03 |
| 1920 | 42 | #1,175 | 0.04 |
| 1919 | 49 | #1,027 | 0.04 |
| 1918 | 50 | #1,019 | 0.04 |
| 1917 | 31 | #1,312 | 0.03 |
| 1916 | 47 | #1,006 | 0.05 |
| 1915 | 47 | #970 | 0.05 |
| 1914 | 35 | #1,006 | 0.05 |
| 1913 | 40 | #831 | 0.06 |
| 1912 | 58 | #660 | 0.10 |
| 1911 | 43 | #659 | 0.10 |
| 1910 | 50 | #584 | 0.13 |
| 1909 | 29 | #747 | 0.08 |
| 1908 | 31 | #700 | 0.09 |
| 1907 | 33 | #652 | 0.10 |
| 1906 | 40 | #555 | 0.14 |
| 1905 | 45 | #506 | 0.15 |
| 1904 | 34 | #576 | 0.12 |
| 1903 | 48 | #462 | 0.18 |
| 1902 | 43 | #480 | 0.16 |
| 1901 | 52 | #414 | 0.22 |
| 1900 | 63 | #423 | 0.21 |
| 1899 | 52 | #402 | 0.22 |
| 1898 | 58 | #405 | 0.22 |
| 1897 | 44 | #442 | 0.19 |
| 1896 | 51 | #396 | 0.21 |
| 1895 | 46 | #417 | 0.20 |
| 1894 | 43 | #422 | 0.19 |
| 1893 | 42 | #415 | 0.20 |
| 1892 | 59 | #344 | 0.28 |
| 1891 | 55 | #340 | 0.30 |
| 1890 | 61 | #324 | 0.32 |
| 1889 | 55 | #334 | 0.31 |
| 1888 | 45 | #357 | 0.25 |
| 1887 | 44 | #322 | 0.30 |
| 1886 | 46 | #307 | 0.32 |
| 1885 | 45 | #296 | 0.34 |
| 1884 | 50 | #275 | 0.39 |
| 1883 | 33 | #306 | 0.29 |
| 1882 | 38 | #287 | 0.35 |
| 1881 | 29 | #293 | 0.32 |
| 1880 | 31 | #278 | 0.34 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Bell a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 2,626 Americans recorded as Bell, 95% are girls and 5% boys. In 2025 it went to 8 girls; SSA lists no boys with it that year (fewer than 5, or none).
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Bell: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Bell, and how old are they?
An estimated 280 Americans named Bell and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (11% of everyone recorded); the median is 53 years old and half are between 11 and 78. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 1,082 people named Bell (836 women and girls, 246 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 307 born in the U.S. The Census count is 3.5 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census records the name people give, which for many is the short form Bell rather than the name on their birth record, and it counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Bell
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Bell and names like it
- Compare Bell and AugustaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1900sBell peaked in 1900.
- Georgia’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Bell since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Bell: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1900The year the most babies were named Bell.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Bell alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with BMost given first.