Howell
Howell was given to 12 boys in 2025, #6,943 among boys’ names; 3,923 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,290 Americans named Howell and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (33% of everyone recorded); the median is 67 years old and half are between 52 and 76.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Howell by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Howell mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Howell is “a male given name from Welsh.”
From Welsh Hywel. Doublet of Huell and Powell.
/haʊ(w)əɫ/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Howell?
#6,943 among boys’ names, 2025
Howell rose from #9,940 in 2015 to #6,943 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 3.7 to 7.0 per million.
93 babies in 1920, the peak
Howell peaked in 1920, when 93 boys were given it, #665 among boys’ names. The 12 births of 2025 are 13% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 12 | #6,943 | 0.01 |
| 2024 | 11 | #7,430 | 0.01 |
| 2023 | 10 | #7,919 | 0.01 |
| 2022 | 9 | #8,562 | 0.01 |
| 2021 | 9 | #8,417 | 0.01 |
| 2020 | 14 | #6,086 | 0.01 |
| 2019 | 6 | #11,281 | under 0.01 |
| 2017 | 5 | #12,989 | under 0.01 |
| 2015 | 7 | #9,940 | under 0.01 |
| 2013 | 5 | #12,837 | under 0.01 |
Every recorded year (132)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 7 | #10,099 | under 0.01 |
| 2011 | 6 | #11,359 | under 0.01 |
| 2008 | 7 | #10,275 | under 0.01 |
| 2005 | 10 | #7,316 | 0.01 |
| 2003 | 8 | #8,120 | under 0.01 |
| 2001 | 11 | #6,174 | 0.01 |
| 2000 | 9 | #7,034 | under 0.01 |
| 1997 | 6 | #8,559 | under 0.01 |
| 1996 | 5 | #9,553 | under 0.01 |
| 1993 | 10 | #5,503 | 0.01 |
| 1992 | 6 | #7,818 | under 0.01 |
| 1991 | 6 | #7,629 | under 0.01 |
| 1990 | 13 | #4,253 | 0.01 |
| 1989 | 7 | #6,485 | under 0.01 |
| 1988 | 10 | #4,563 | 0.01 |
| 1987 | 5 | #7,397 | under 0.01 |
| 1986 | 5 | #7,130 | under 0.01 |
| 1985 | 7 | #5,379 | under 0.01 |
| 1984 | 7 | #5,186 | under 0.01 |
| 1983 | 9 | #4,283 | 0.01 |
| 1982 | 10 | #4,059 | 0.01 |
| 1981 | 10 | #3,959 | 0.01 |
| 1980 | 8 | #4,671 | under 0.01 |
| 1979 | 13 | #3,240 | 0.01 |
| 1978 | 14 | #2,975 | 0.01 |
| 1977 | 6 | #5,399 | under 0.01 |
| 1976 | 10 | #3,577 | 0.01 |
| 1975 | 12 | #3,134 | 0.01 |
| 1974 | 12 | #3,022 | 0.01 |
| 1973 | 13 | #2,772 | 0.01 |
| 1972 | 14 | #2,584 | 0.01 |
| 1971 | 26 | #1,753 | 0.01 |
| 1970 | 18 | #2,161 | 0.01 |
| 1969 | 19 | #1,934 | 0.01 |
| 1968 | 21 | #1,753 | 0.01 |
| 1967 | 20 | #1,783 | 0.01 |
| 1966 | 31 | #1,384 | 0.02 |
| 1965 | 26 | #1,537 | 0.01 |
| 1964 | 42 | #1,191 | 0.02 |
| 1963 | 26 | #1,557 | 0.01 |
| 1962 | 36 | #1,299 | 0.02 |
| 1961 | 36 | #1,334 | 0.02 |
| 1960 | 33 | #1,386 | 0.02 |
| 1959 | 44 | #1,176 | 0.02 |
| 1958 | 52 | #1,063 | 0.02 |
| 1957 | 45 | #1,155 | 0.02 |
| 1956 | 56 | #1,001 | 0.03 |
| 1955 | 48 | #1,085 | 0.02 |
| 1954 | 59 | #963 | 0.03 |
| 1953 | 44 | #1,113 | 0.02 |
| 1952 | 57 | #943 | 0.03 |
| 1951 | 61 | #906 | 0.03 |
| 1950 | 74 | #791 | 0.04 |
| 1949 | 56 | #927 | 0.03 |
| 1948 | 51 | #978 | 0.03 |
| 1947 | 63 | #882 | 0.03 |
| 1946 | 57 | #872 | 0.04 |
| 1945 | 50 | #906 | 0.04 |
| 1944 | 48 | #924 | 0.04 |
| 1943 | 66 | #810 | 0.05 |
| 1942 | 47 | #977 | 0.03 |
| 1941 | 57 | #842 | 0.05 |
| 1940 | 61 | #796 | 0.05 |
| 1939 | 68 | #728 | 0.06 |
| 1938 | 56 | #829 | 0.05 |
| 1937 | 61 | #790 | 0.06 |
| 1936 | 67 | #738 | 0.06 |
| 1935 | 55 | #846 | 0.05 |
| 1934 | 67 | #749 | 0.06 |
| 1933 | 62 | #777 | 0.06 |
| 1932 | 61 | #820 | 0.06 |
| 1931 | 59 | #820 | 0.06 |
| 1930 | 51 | #951 | 0.05 |
| 1929 | 46 | #1,000 | 0.04 |
| 1928 | 61 | #849 | 0.06 |
| 1927 | 80 | #728 | 0.07 |
| 1926 | 73 | #752 | 0.07 |
| 1925 | 79 | #734 | 0.07 |
| 1924 | 78 | #757 | 0.07 |
| 1923 | 80 | #731 | 0.07 |
| 1922 | 65 | #852 | 0.06 |
| 1921 | 75 | #776 | 0.07 |
| 1920 | 93 | #665 | 0.09 |
| 1919 | 63 | #825 | 0.06 |
| 1918 | 66 | #806 | 0.07 |
| 1917 | 74 | #708 | 0.08 |
| 1916 | 69 | #727 | 0.08 |
| 1915 | 68 | #719 | 0.08 |
| 1914 | 56 | #682 | 0.09 |
| 1913 | 43 | #701 | 0.08 |
| 1912 | 28 | #844 | 0.07 |
| 1911 | 20 | #719 | 0.09 |
| 1910 | 13 | #899 | 0.07 |
| 1909 | 15 | #734 | 0.09 |
| 1908 | 8 | #1,062 | 0.05 |
| 1907 | 11 | #841 | 0.07 |
| 1906 | 8 | #964 | 0.06 |
| 1905 | 14 | #649 | 0.11 |
| 1904 | 6 | #1,132 | 0.05 |
| 1903 | 7 | #959 | 0.06 |
| 1902 | 9 | #822 | 0.07 |
| 1901 | 10 | #705 | 0.09 |
| 1900 | 14 | #687 | 0.09 |
| 1899 | 13 | #564 | 0.12 |
| 1898 | 8 | #843 | 0.07 |
| 1897 | 9 | #754 | 0.08 |
| 1896 | 9 | #799 | 0.08 |
| 1895 | 16 | #516 | 0.14 |
| 1894 | 13 | #578 | 0.11 |
| 1892 | 9 | #766 | 0.07 |
| 1891 | 9 | #668 | 0.09 |
| 1890 | 11 | #616 | 0.10 |
| 1889 | 8 | #749 | 0.07 |
| 1888 | 7 | #865 | 0.06 |
| 1887 | 9 | #654 | 0.09 |
| 1886 | 8 | #724 | 0.07 |
| 1885 | 8 | #734 | 0.07 |
| 1884 | 12 | #558 | 0.10 |
| 1883 | 10 | #617 | 0.10 |
| 1882 | 11 | #589 | 0.10 |
| 1881 | 6 | #822 | 0.06 |
| 1880 | 14 | #491 | 0.13 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Howell a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Howell has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 132 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Howell: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Howell, and how old are they?
1,290 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 33% of the 3,923 Americans ever recorded as Howell. The median Howell alive today is 67 years old; half are between 52 and 76.
The 2020 Census counted 1,667 people named Howell (35 women and girls, 1,632 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,507 born in the U.S. The Census count is 11% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 198 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 604 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 229 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 104 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 63 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 87 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
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).
Where are babies named Howell born?
The states with the most babies named Howell are Georgia, Texas and Tennessee, with 70% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Tennessee is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Georgia | 493 | not ranked | 4.6× |
| Texas | 316 | not ranked | 1.5× |
| Tennessee | 165 | not ranked | 1.9× |
| Alabama | 158 | not ranked | 1.8× |
| North Carolina | 66 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Florida | 43 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| New York | 26 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Pennsylvania | 23 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Virginia | 20 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Arkansas | 18 | not ranked | 0.3× |
Where Howell is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Howell is most over-represented in Georgia: since 1910 it was given 4.6 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Howell with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 2 names spelled alike, given to 3,977 babies since 1880, Howell is the most given (99% of them).
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Howell
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 Howell and names like it
- Compare Howell and HowlBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sHowell peaked in 1920.
- Georgia’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Howell since 1910.
- Welsh namesWiktionary’s origin for Howell: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1920The year the most babies were named Howell.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Howell alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with HMost given first.