Lemuel
Lemuel was given to 74 boys in 2025, #2,030 among boys’ names; 9,965 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 5,020 Americans named Lemuel and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (50% of everyone recorded); the median is 46 years old and half are between 21 and 65.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Lemuel by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Lemuel mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Lemuel is “a male given name from Hebrew of biblical origin.” Its etymology gives the sense “devoted to God” (literally).
From Hebrew לְמוּאֵל (lemu'él, ləmūʔel, literally “devoted to God”).
/ˈlɛm.jə(wə)l/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Lemuel?
#2,030 among boys’ names, 2025
Lemuel fell from #2,008 in 2015 to #2,030 in 2025 among boys’ names, although its share of boys born rose from 37.6 to 43.3 per million.
147 babies in 1921, the peak
Lemuel peaked in 1921, when 147 boys were given it, #512 among boys’ names. The 74 births of 2025 are 50% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 74 | #2,030 | 0.04 |
| 2024 | 69 | #2,148 | 0.04 |
| 2023 | 67 | #2,164 | 0.04 |
| 2022 | 73 | #2,070 | 0.04 |
| 2021 | 62 | #2,265 | 0.04 |
| 2020 | 65 | #2,159 | 0.04 |
| 2019 | 72 | #2,033 | 0.04 |
| 2018 | 82 | #1,847 | 0.05 |
| 2017 | 71 | #2,009 | 0.04 |
| 2016 | 48 | #2,605 | 0.03 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 72 | #2,008 | 0.04 |
| 2014 | 70 | #2,032 | 0.04 |
| 2013 | 64 | #2,103 | 0.03 |
| 2012 | 52 | #2,434 | 0.03 |
| 2011 | 51 | #2,463 | 0.03 |
| 2010 | 52 | #2,420 | 0.03 |
| 2009 | 34 | #3,304 | 0.02 |
| 2008 | 57 | #2,309 | 0.03 |
| 2007 | 38 | #3,057 | 0.02 |
| 2006 | 63 | #2,090 | 0.03 |
| 2005 | 43 | #2,591 | 0.02 |
| 2004 | 38 | #2,768 | 0.02 |
| 2003 | 66 | #1,808 | 0.03 |
| 2002 | 43 | #2,392 | 0.02 |
| 2001 | 47 | #2,202 | 0.02 |
| 2000 | 50 | #2,032 | 0.03 |
| 1999 | 62 | #1,703 | 0.03 |
| 1998 | 49 | #1,975 | 0.03 |
| 1997 | 50 | #1,871 | 0.03 |
| 1996 | 51 | #1,803 | 0.03 |
| 1995 | 46 | #1,870 | 0.02 |
| 1994 | 59 | #1,568 | 0.03 |
| 1993 | 46 | #1,837 | 0.02 |
| 1992 | 52 | #1,664 | 0.03 |
| 1991 | 63 | #1,435 | 0.03 |
| 1990 | 55 | #1,535 | 0.03 |
| 1989 | 52 | #1,553 | 0.03 |
| 1988 | 48 | #1,532 | 0.03 |
| 1987 | 44 | #1,597 | 0.02 |
| 1986 | 56 | #1,309 | 0.03 |
| 1985 | 62 | #1,200 | 0.03 |
| 1984 | 45 | #1,434 | 0.02 |
| 1983 | 54 | #1,258 | 0.03 |
| 1982 | 77 | #1,037 | 0.04 |
| 1981 | 63 | #1,161 | 0.04 |
| 1980 | 70 | #1,084 | 0.04 |
| 1979 | 73 | #1,037 | 0.04 |
| 1978 | 45 | #1,380 | 0.03 |
| 1977 | 73 | #1,007 | 0.04 |
| 1976 | 72 | #985 | 0.05 |
| 1975 | 71 | #979 | 0.05 |
| 1974 | 67 | #1,004 | 0.04 |
| 1973 | 60 | #1,050 | 0.04 |
| 1972 | 72 | #957 | 0.04 |
| 1971 | 65 | #1,011 | 0.04 |
| 1970 | 72 | #946 | 0.04 |
| 1969 | 73 | #896 | 0.04 |
| 1968 | 76 | #837 | 0.04 |
| 1967 | 84 | #798 | 0.05 |
| 1966 | 84 | #798 | 0.05 |
| 1965 | 87 | #801 | 0.05 |
| 1964 | 92 | #786 | 0.05 |
| 1963 | 102 | #762 | 0.05 |
| 1962 | 95 | #784 | 0.05 |
| 1961 | 95 | #782 | 0.04 |
| 1960 | 94 | #794 | 0.04 |
| 1959 | 102 | #753 | 0.05 |
| 1958 | 77 | #864 | 0.04 |
| 1957 | 106 | #729 | 0.05 |
| 1956 | 101 | #732 | 0.05 |
| 1955 | 96 | #747 | 0.05 |
| 1954 | 105 | #709 | 0.05 |
| 1953 | 109 | #682 | 0.06 |
| 1952 | 105 | #677 | 0.05 |
| 1951 | 114 | #657 | 0.06 |
| 1950 | 86 | #744 | 0.05 |
| 1949 | 97 | #694 | 0.05 |
| 1948 | 91 | #700 | 0.05 |
| 1947 | 86 | #743 | 0.05 |
| 1946 | 85 | #707 | 0.05 |
| 1945 | 73 | #714 | 0.05 |
| 1944 | 100 | #616 | 0.07 |
| 1943 | 95 | #660 | 0.07 |
| 1942 | 86 | #697 | 0.06 |
| 1941 | 78 | #698 | 0.06 |
| 1940 | 74 | #707 | 0.06 |
| 1939 | 79 | #668 | 0.07 |
| 1938 | 103 | #578 | 0.09 |
| 1937 | 90 | #617 | 0.08 |
| 1936 | 85 | #631 | 0.08 |
| 1935 | 85 | #644 | 0.08 |
| 1934 | 88 | #640 | 0.09 |
| 1933 | 83 | #634 | 0.08 |
| 1932 | 90 | #628 | 0.09 |
| 1931 | 90 | #627 | 0.09 |
| 1930 | 102 | #609 | 0.09 |
| 1929 | 110 | #567 | 0.10 |
| 1928 | 116 | #571 | 0.10 |
| 1927 | 102 | #625 | 0.09 |
| 1926 | 122 | #556 | 0.11 |
| 1925 | 118 | #574 | 0.11 |
| 1924 | 128 | #557 | 0.11 |
| 1923 | 111 | #604 | 0.10 |
| 1922 | 142 | #518 | 0.13 |
| 1921 | 147 | #512 | 0.13 |
| 1920 | 146 | #499 | 0.14 |
| 1919 | 137 | #509 | 0.14 |
| 1918 | 122 | #545 | 0.12 |
| 1917 | 115 | #547 | 0.12 |
| 1916 | 135 | #489 | 0.15 |
| 1915 | 95 | #585 | 0.11 |
| 1914 | 90 | #518 | 0.14 |
| 1913 | 57 | #583 | 0.11 |
| 1912 | 61 | #505 | 0.14 |
| 1911 | 32 | #527 | 0.14 |
| 1910 | 29 | #528 | 0.15 |
| 1909 | 27 | #499 | 0.16 |
| 1908 | 20 | #570 | 0.13 |
| 1907 | 30 | #423 | 0.20 |
| 1906 | 36 | #348 | 0.27 |
| 1905 | 24 | #458 | 0.18 |
| 1904 | 16 | #580 | 0.12 |
| 1903 | 24 | #407 | 0.20 |
| 1902 | 21 | #468 | 0.17 |
| 1901 | 20 | #430 | 0.19 |
| 1900 | 37 | #364 | 0.25 |
| 1899 | 20 | #422 | 0.19 |
| 1898 | 22 | #425 | 0.18 |
| 1897 | 30 | #344 | 0.27 |
| 1896 | 20 | #451 | 0.17 |
| 1895 | 23 | #408 | 0.20 |
| 1894 | 28 | #345 | 0.24 |
| 1893 | 19 | #424 | 0.17 |
| 1892 | 33 | #325 | 0.27 |
| 1891 | 32 | #295 | 0.32 |
| 1890 | 28 | #332 | 0.25 |
| 1889 | 29 | #330 | 0.26 |
| 1888 | 32 | #321 | 0.26 |
| 1887 | 39 | #258 | 0.38 |
| 1886 | 37 | #282 | 0.33 |
| 1885 | 31 | #305 | 0.29 |
| 1884 | 31 | #315 | 0.27 |
| 1883 | 41 | #259 | 0.39 |
| 1882 | 43 | #264 | 0.38 |
| 1881 | 58 | #195 | 0.58 |
| 1880 | 59 | #208 | 0.53 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Lemuel a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Lemuel has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 146 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Lemuel: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Lemuel, and how old are they?
5,020 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 50% of the 9,965 Americans ever recorded as Lemuel. The median Lemuel alive today is 46 years old; half are between 21 and 65.
The 2020 Census counted 5,168 people named Lemuel (16 women and girls, 5,152 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 5,121 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 301 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,220 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,010 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 828 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 782 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 882 |
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 Lemuel born?
The states with the most babies named Lemuel are North Carolina, Texas and Georgia, with 37% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Carolina | 693 | not ranked | 2.5× |
| Texas | 484 | #1,616 | 0.8× |
| Georgia | 351 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Virginia | 341 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Florida | 299 | #1,760 | 1.2× |
| New York | 278 | #1,932 | 0.4× |
| California | 276 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Alabama | 225 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| South Carolina | 197 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Tennessee | 179 | not ranked | 0.8× |
Where Lemuel is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Lemuel is most over-represented in North Carolina: since 1910 it was given 2.5 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 Lemuel 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 10,025 babies since 1880, Lemuel is the most given (99% of them). In 2025 it was given to 74 of their 74 babies (100%), again the most given.
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 Lemuel
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 Lemuel and names like it
- Compare Lemuel and LemualBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sLemuel peaked in 1921.
- North Carolina’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Lemuel since 1910.
- Hebrew namesWiktionary’s origin for Lemuel: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1921The year the most babies were named Lemuel.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Lemuel alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with LMost given first.